Alliance
by MidnasEspeon
Summary: Set after Triage, Soundwave thought he was Megatron's most loyal servant that was honored by everyone, but when he is defeated by Arcee and Bulkhead, Knockout has taken revenge and convinced the Decepticons that he was dead. Soundwave now walks alone. Now, he can only rely on Slipstream, a Starscream clone, to return to the Decepticons. Soundwave/Slipstream.
1. Chapter 1

_**Author Note:** Alright, I'm going to have to tell you the warnings that couldn't fit on the summary. This story contains horrendous scenes, and mentions and references to interfacing. Now that is now off my chest, you may now read on!_

* * *

Megatron yelled at the top of his lungs as he noticed the Autobots were trying to shoot the Nemesis down to the ground, "Those cursed Autobots! Knockout, Dreadwing, go and squash those Autobot pests!" He clenched his fists, turning around to the two Decepticons.

"Yes, Lord Megatron." Knockout and Dreadwing replied, and quickly ran off to from stopping the Autobots from attacking the Nemesis.

Soundwave looked from the window, staring at Knockout and Dreadwing. They were already getting injured, and it hadn't become a klick!

Megatron was probably watching as well because he screeched in fury. "Those weaklings don't deserve to fight with the Decepticons!" he growled, and then slowly turned to Soundwave, "Can I trust you with defeating Optimus?" His voice was somewhat calmer than a few seconds ago, but Soundwave knew he was frustrated over Knockout and Dreadwing.

Soundwave slowly nodded, and walked off, ready to destroy the Autobots.

He leaped off the Nemesis, and transformed into a jet. He sped off to the direction of his opponents. He passed Knockout and Dreadwing, who were surprised to see Soundwave coming to fight their battles.

"Megatron thinks Soundwave is better than me…" Knockout growled, clenching his fists tightly.

Dreadwing looked at Knockout.

"I…I mean…Us." Knockout corrected himself, smiling a little, but as he turned to watch Soundwave, he grumbled to himself, and bit his lip in anger.

Soundwave transformed back into a robot far from the Autobots. He extended his tentacles, one to his left and one to his right. He extended the two towards the nearest Autobot: Arcee. He easily grabbed Arcee by her legs, and lifted her up into the air.

"Scrap!" Arcee muttered, and transformed her servos into her guns. She quickly fired at Soundwave, but the Decepticon was too swift. Soundwave dodged her attacks, and managed to get close enough to the Autobot. They locked eyes for half a second, and Soundwave swiped at Arcee's body with the sides of his servos.

Arcee fell from the grip of the tentacles, but she flew across the clearing, and landed with a loud thud. She groaned as she struggled to get up. As she lifted her head up, something shot her in the shoulder. She looked up in the sky to see Lazerbeak, one of Soundwave's mini-cons.

As Arcee was dealting with Lazerbeak, Soundwave discovered his opening, and he walked up to Arcee calmly.

Arcee, already greatly injured by Soundwave's mini-con, looked up from Lazerbeak, and stared at Soundwave's visor.

Soundwave raised his tentacles to strike at the weak Arcee. But, Arcee just gave him a small smile. Confused, Soundwave looked around for a second or two, noticing that Lazerbeak was on the ground, nearly destroyed by Bumblebee.

Arcee quickly got out her blades, and deliberately slashed at Soundwave. She scratched Soundwave's visor, and after a series of slashes, she kicked Soundwave in the visor, cracking it almost entirely with her great strength, even though she was much smaller than Bulkhead.

Soundwave staggered, barely able to see through his visor. She looked around, wondering where Arcee was. Then, something hit him from the back. Hard. He fell to the ground, managing to get a glimpse of his attacker: Bulkhead…With his wrecking ball. He could slightly see Lazerbeak struggling to get to him, until Bulkhead stepped onto Lazerbeak, nearly destroying the drone. He reached out a servo to Lazerbeak, until something extremely heavy pounded against his head, and he plummeted into unconsciousness.

* * *

He woke up to see no Autobots…No Lazerbeak…And no Nemesis. He looked around, but his visor was too cracked for him to see a good distance away from him. He turned on his com link, trying to reach any Decepticon onboard the warship.

It was Knockout who answered his call. "Soundwave? What is it?" he sounded angry because of something.

Soundwave stayed silent…Like he always was.

"I saw what you did back on the battlefield. You were foolishly knocked out because of Bulkhead! When Dreadwing and I reported you to Megatron, he was furious! He couldn't believe that you fell to an _Autobot!"_ Knockout paused, and then he began speaking again with a soft cackle. "The only thing that made Megatron slightly happy was to hear that you were killed! Of course, he _was_ still upset that you were terminated…After all, you _were_ one of his greatest warriors, but save some spotlight for other bots, will ya?"

Soundwave was about to say something, until Knockout began speaking once again. "Now, you can't go back to the Nemesis! You don't want Megatron to be frustrated that you were defeated by Bulkhead, and thought you would still be in your high rank, would you?" Knockout cackled once again, "You're alone now, Soundwave. Your visors cracked, and you can't track the Nemesis down. No one will help fix you up. Well, that's what you get for being one of Megatron's greatest Decepticons." Knockout ended the communication.

Soundwave just stood there in thought. He tried to call back the Nemesis once again, but it seemed like his com link wasn't working anymore. He begins to think of looking for the warship himself. _It would use up my energon, but it is worth to serve Megatron once again, _he thought. He tried to transform, but something was keeping him from transforming. He suddenly realizes that his T-Cog is missing! _Autobots, _he thought, and punched a nearby wall in anger. He walked off, barely able to watch his step.

Thirty minutes later, Soundwave discovered a grey wing tip underneath a rock. He crouched down, and looked at it. It reminded him of someone: Starscream. He stared at the wing tip, thinking of destroying it, but soon knew it would just be a waste of his strength, but if the wing tip was there, Starscrea would've been near. He extended his tentacles to protect himself, unable to scan the area because of his visor.

One minute went by…

Two minutes…

Three…

He thought of keeping his weapons out, but he was wondering if he was just becoming paranoid. He sighed in his mind, and looked down at his feet. As he was about to put the tentacles away, a seeker came from behind him, and he quickly fell into stasis as a blue beam of light hit him with its great energy.

* * *

He woke up to see a slim figure in front of him. His back against a rock wall, he stared into the eyes of Starscream…Only it wasn't. It was Slipstream, a female clone of Starscream. Soundwave quickly tried to unleash his tentacles at her, but it was like his weapons weren't there in the first place.

Slipstream laughed at him, "Stasis beams work really well when it comes to stopping weapons like yours."

Soundwave immediately got up, and unleashed his own servos at her. With swift attacks, he managed to get Slipstream off-guard, and hit her in the wing, but she was too fast enough for his other attacks. She swiftly knocked the Decepticon to the ground with one kick to his chest. She leaned over him near his cracked visor, "Not so powerful without your weapons, are you? Knockout is right. You're just trash."

_I still have one trick up my sleeve, _Soundwave thought, and sent out Lazerbeak. But then, he noticed that Lazerbeak wasn't with him! His cracked screen showed his astonishment, and Slipstream obviously read it.

"I don't think you should bother attacking me with your drone. I have hidden that pesky bird somewhere you will never find it." Slipstream smiled evilly.

Soundwave signaled the drone to return to him, but after a minute or two, nothing came back to him. He pushed Slipstream off of him, and he stood up. He began walking off to find Lazerbeak himself.

Slipstream began following Soundwave closely. "What are you going to do after you find Lazerbeak?" she asked.

Soundwave stopped in his tracks, and pondered for a moment. What _was_ he going to do? The Decepticons thought he was dead, and Megatron is ashamed of him. He then looked at Slipstream, staying quiet.

After a few seconds, Slipstream began laughing softly, "That's why I like the silent-type. All of you guys go about wanting to protect your reputation." She gave the Decepticon a little wink, but it meant nothing to her, however.

Soundwave just ignored her comment, and began walking farther away from Slipstream.

"Hey!" Slipstream cried out, and took one of Soundwave's servos to stop him from walking. "You're so stupid! You're just like Starscream!" she yelled, looking at the back of his head.

That comment began angering Soundwave, and he clenched his fists.

"You can be less dumb, and I'll unlock your weapons from stasis, help you find Lazerbeak, and help you get back to the Nemesis in exchange for a place in the Decepticon ranks." Slipstream explained, uncrossing her arms.

Soundwave's broken visor slightly brightened, and he turned around. Slipstream smiled as he slowly nodded one time, and looked away from her.

Slipstream placed one finger underneath Soundwave's chin. "Now, was that so hard?" she asked with a dash of evil in her tone.

Soundwave said nothing as always, but looked into her red eyes, seeing the same eyes as Starscream's. Because of that, he felt like ripping out her spark, but he knew to wait until Slipstream offers her side of the bargain. He began walking off, and Slipstream followed close to him.

After a few minutes, Slipstream began talking in embarrassment, "The thing is, I don't know where Lazerbeak is."

Soundwave made a faint hissing sound, and walked off, planning on leaving Slipstream behind. He didn't turn around, but he knew that she was trying to transform. She was successful on transforming into a jet, but she didn't go airborne. She plummeted to the ground with a loud thud. She groaned, and transformed back one again. "What the frag?" she found out that one of her wings' tips chipped off. She began frantically searching for the missing part underneath the rocks.

Soundwave turned back around, and gave her a look that meant: _I know where it is, but I choose not to show you._

Slipstream laughed, "You're trying to give me payback, aren't you? Well, good job on thinking of that…But next time, work on your plans." She placed her hands on her hips, and smiled a little. "Look," she began, "I'm willing to help you return to the Decepticon warship if you are willing to help me."

Soundwave thought about his decision, and looked down at the ground. After a moment or two, he nodded, and they shook servos.

When their hands touched, an electrifying feeling came from his hand to his cracked visor. He wondered in confusion and curiosity, _What was that?_


	2. Chapter 2

Soundwave turned away from Slipstream. His cracked visor was starting to annoy him. He touched his visor, feeling the several cracks on it.

Slipstream walked over to Soundwave, looking at his visor. "It looks pretty banged up. You don't have any medical stuff on you by any chance?" she asked, observing the cracks on the visor.

Soundwave said nothing, and kept walking towards the direction he wanted to go in.

Slipstream scoffed and fell into step next to Soundwave, "You're just going bear with it? Did you forget to de-frag your hard drive or something?"

Soundwave just looked at her, and kept walking off at the same direction.

_Does he even know where to start? _Slipstream thought in confusion. She placed on hand at the back of her neck, and followed Soundwave. A few minutes later, Slipstream broke the silence between them. "Do you even know where you are going? Or are you just improvising?" she hissed, crossing her arms in anger.

Soundwave stopped and looked at her. He could barely see her face through his visor. He looked down at the ground, which is all what Slipstream needed to know what he meant.

"At least you came to your senses." Slipstream nodded one time, and looked around the area, "I know this place well sort of. I've been hiding here for a while, so I think I know where we can take refuge. Follow me." She walked off the opposite direction Soundwave was heading. He had no idea where he was, so he followed her. He was wondering where she was taking him, but he did not argue; nor did he want to.

Slipstream led Soundwave to a crahed ship known as the Harbinger. She looked at the ship, and walked inside. Soundwave slowly followed, unsure what to think of it. As Slipstream walked deeper into the ship, Soundwave discovered a used cloning room. There were five slots where protoforms were supposed to be in, but they were gone. He wondered if someone has been in the Harbinger before. He walked into the cloning room, searching the area. He looked at the cloning equipment, and observed it. He would've scanned it, but he could barely see. Before he found the button to turn it on, Slipstream called him over.

"Soundwave, come here!" Slipstream cried, and Soundwave looked at the cloning equipment one last time until he left the cloning place and walked into the room where Slipstream was. "What were you doing?" she crossed her arms in curiosity.

Soundwave said nothing.

"Fine, be that way." Slipstream growled, and turned to a medical berth. "I think I found the right tools to patch up your visor. I'm not a medical bot, but I think it's easy enough."

Soundwave hesitated to get onto the berth, but he told himself he had nothing to lose. He already lost his T-Cog and Lazerbeak. The only thing that he can lose is his spark, but now, he's starting to not care if he loses his spark since there's really nothing for him to live other than serve Megatron. He lied down on the berth, looking up at the ceiling.

Slipstream rummaged through a tool box, and got out a lighter of some sort. She turned it on, and flames blew from the nozzle of the lighter. "Don't worry, Soundwave. It's probably going to hurt…A lot." she said, and moved the flames closer and closer to Soundwave's visor.

But Soundwave wasn't an organic that leaks from their optics when they feel pain. He just laid there, ready for the fire to spread onto his visor. But when the flames touched his face, it didn't hurt at all. In fact, he felt numb. He looked at Slipstream, wondering if she was doing the procedure incorrectly. When he looked at Slipstream, from the corner of his optic, he noticed that she was leaning on his chest where Lazerbeak used to be. He wanted to push Slipstream off of him, but she had a lighter with her; one false move and it can get onto one of his servos. So, he just laid there motionless.

* * *

He must've fell into stasis because he didn't have any memory of what happened after that. He looked through his visor and saw that the cracks that used to be there were gone. Slipstream must've fixed it. He looked around to find her, and noticed that she was in stasis in the corner. She was curled up into a little ball, enjoying her stasis nap. Soundwave silently walked out of the Harbinger, and looked at his surroundings. He began to think it was time to move on. He walked back to Slipstream, and held her shoulder. He gently shook her to wake her up.

Slipstream's optics opened, and she looked at Soundwave. "I see you enjoyed your stasis nap." she said, and stood up from where she was sleeping.

Soundwave looked towards the entrance to the Harbinger.

Slipstream already knew what he was thinking. "Leave? Now? Soundwave, I think you should recharge your circuits here for a solar cycle or two." Slipstream explained, stretching out her servos.

Soundwave didn't favor this one bit, but it would give them some shelter if any Decepticons came to the area to find him or Slipstream. He nodded one time, and walked off into a room he didn't explore before. It was a simple quarters with a berth and everything in a regular quarters. He quickly walked back out of the room. He walked out of the Harbinger, and looked around once again. He scanned the area with his visor. He was glad to see things clearly once again.

Back inside, Slipstream entered the cloning room. She looked around the place. The one thing that caught her eye was the empty protoform pods. _Imagine, _she thought, _my brethren came from here. _She looked at the cloning equipment from a good distance. She can clearly imagine Starscream turning on the cloning machine to make five more of his clones. _As if_ _more than eight clones were not enough for him, _Slipstream thought, and felt the Decepticon keyboard with her fingers. As she was about to turn it on, Soundwave walked in. She quickly turned around to look at the Spymaster. "I was just…Tinkering with the cloning equipment." she said, looking back at the keyboard.

Soundwave just stared at her red optics. He recorded her last sentence, and repeated the recording back to her, "I was just…Tinkering with the cloning equipment."

"What do you think I was doing? I don't really have the energon_ or_ the protoforms to make my own clones, you know?" Slipstream hissed, crossed her arms, and looked away from Soundwave. She couldn't help but glance back at him to see what he was doing.

Soundwave just stood there motionless. His visor was blank…As if he was thinking of something.

"What are you doing _now?"_ Slipstream asked.

In Soundwave's mind, he was thinking about Starscream. Slipstream just kept on reminding him of the rogue Decepticon. The same eyes…The same wings…The same personality: Sassy. He could tell she was Starscream's clone, but she felt different from Starscream; besides the fact that she was a femme and Starscream was a mech.

"Would you stop standing there? Why don't you go and listen to some Autobot transmissions? Isn't that what you do?" Slipstream asked, and turned her back on him.

Soundwave actually did what Slipstream said, and he began listening to Autobot transmissions. A few minutes later, he found a com link that was currently connecting Arcee and Bulkhead.

"What should we do with this thing?" Arcee asked to Bulkhead.

"It's Lazerbeak, Arcee. Soundwave must be trying to find his mini-con by now. Maybe we can put it to some good use." Bulkhead replied.

"How? It's not like he'll go out of his way _just_ to find this stupid drone that doesn't look like it's even online still." Arcee groaned.

"Trust me, Arcee. Lazerbeak and Soundwave go way back. Ratchet told me he went to save Lazerbeak even though he was about to rip Wheeljack's spark out." Bulkhead explained.

"Huh. Well, what do you think we should do?" Arcee asked in curiosity.

"Maybe we can put a virus into it like what Ratchet did. Then, we can gain information on every single Decepticon activity straight from the Nemesis! I'm sure Soundwave will return back to Megatron as always." Bulkhead answered.

"Well, that wrecker is wrong, isn't he?" Slipstream asked. Soundwave turned his head to look at the seeker. "Now that you know what they're planning to do to your precious mini-con, how are you going to save Lazerbeak from the Autobots without receiving the virus?" she asked, crossing her arms. "It doesn't even seem wise for you to rescue your drone. I'm sure you can build yourself a new Lazerbeak."

Soundwave ignored Slipstream's last comment, and exited the Harbinger.

Slipstream softly scoffed, and quickly followed the Decepticon. She tugged on Soundwave's arm in astonishment, "You're not going to find the Autobots, are you?"

Soundwave turned around to look at Slipstream. He nodded one time, and walked off. He began scanning the area to find out where he was. A few minutes later, he started walking towards the certain coordinates he set.

Slipstream sighed, and followed Soundwave. "Hey, you still need to help me find my missing wing tip!" she shouted, clenching her fists.

Soundwave didn't stop walking to reply to Slipstream.

Slipstream groaned in anger. Her wings drooped, and she kept on following Soundwave down the path, wondering if he chose the right decision to attack the Autobots without his weapons. _Should I even unlock them out of stasis? I still cannot trust him. But, I could use him to my advantage, _she thought, and fell into step beside Soundwave. She looked at his visor, reading the coordinates. "You don't even know if that is the right place to find even _one_ Autobot!" Slipstream grunted, and looked away from him.

Soundwave rechecked his coordinates, and looked at Slipstream. He nodded his head, and looked at the rocky ground beneath his stabilizing servos.

"Whatever. It's not like I have anything to do besides find Starscream and rip out his spark." Slipstream replied.

_At least we have something in common, _Soundwave thought.


	3. Chapter 3

After an hour or two of looking for the place where Soundwave set up the coordinates, Slipstream was losing her temper while Soundwave completely calm about the subject. "How long have we been searching for these coordinates you found? We're _never_ going to find the Autobots; let alone _one_ Autobot! So, let's just go and find my missing wing part, and we'll go our separate ways, alright?" Slipstream growled, crossing her arms and immediately stopped in her tracks.

Soundwave's visor began blinking to the top-right corner where he accurately set the coordinates. The color of the blinking target notified him what it was. _Energon readings, _he thought, taking the coordinates off his visor. He quickly walked towards the energon reading that was coming up on his visor.

Slipstream immediately turned her head around, wondering what he was looking for. "Hey, what's going on? Did you find yourself a T-Cog on the ground?" she said with a smirk on her face. She followed Soundwave towards the energon reading. As they looked over the cliff, they noticed there were some energon shards stuck in the ground.

The place was awfully familiar to Soundwave. He easily leaped off the cliff, and landed back onto his feet. He looked around the area. His optics were more focused on the shards of energon than the cliff side itself.

Slipstream followed Soundwave down the cliff, and stared across the abandoned energon mine. "What's so special about _this_ place?" she asked, rolling her optics in boredom.

Soundwave remembered this place from when the Nemesis came to this energon mine to retrieve the treasured energon. But, because of Cliffjumper's surprising entrance, Vehicons were sent out to capture the Autobot. They were successful on capturing the Autobot, and they took Cliffjumper to Starscream. There, the Seeker snuffed Cliffjumper's spark. He also forgot about the precious energon just because he murdered Cliffjumper. Energon was invaluable to the Autobots and Decepticons. How could Starscream just let an opportunity like that slide? Soundwave _never _trusted that suck-up Seeker; it was making him want to snuff out Slipstream's spark because she was a creation of Starscream.

"Soundwave." Slipstream whispered to him in anger. She clenched her fists as her optics stared across the clearing.

Soundwave turned to look at where she was looking at, and was surprised at he saw. There was Arcee and a...Human? He wondered why Arcee let her human sidekick come with her _here._ But Soundwave didn't care about the human right now. He was directly focused on the two-wheeler, who apparently hadn't noticed him yet.

"Allow me." Slipstream insisted, shoving her arm in front of Soundwave. She then quietly walked closer to Arcee and the human, and cackled softly.

Arcee immediately turned around to see who made the cackle. She was shocked to see Slipstream. She quickly transformed her hands into a pair of guns, ready to fire. "Slipstream!" she bit her lip, "What are _you_ doing here?"

"What do you expect? I'm looking for some energon for myself." Slipstream answered, not even making a move to ready her null rays on her servos.

Arcee glanced behind Slipstream, and immediately noticed Soundwave. "Now, why is the Spymaster suddenly her, but not fighting?" she asked in suspicion. She didn't let her optics leave Slipstream or Soundwave.

"Why does it mean so much to you?" Slipstream countered with a question. Her red optics glowed in determination to rip Arcee's spark out, but she was waiting for a perfect time to attack. She smirked at Arcee, softly laughing.

Arcee grunted, and quickly looked behind her to see if the human was alright. She turned around, and looked across the clearing to Soundwave. "Hey, Soundwave, where are your Decepticon friends?" Arcee asked, faking a smile.

Soundwave didn't bother to answer. He just walked over to Slipstream's side, staring directly at Arcee.

"Oh, Arcee, news spreads fast when it comes to _partners."_ Slipstream evilly smirked.

Arcee softly gasped, suddenly remembering Cliffjumper and Tailgate who are offline. She groaned in anger, struggling to get out of her traumatized state. But, whatever she tried did to get the memory of her fallen partners out of her mind, they kept on coming back.

Soundwave knew that Slipstream was trying to get Arcee off-guard by talking about something that was connected directly to Arcee's weak point. While Slipstream was trying to make the two-wheeler even _more_ traumatized, his optics moved towards the human behind Arcee. He remembered the human from the solar cycle when the Decepticons finished a space bridge to Cybertron, and Megatron attempted to resurrect the fallen cybertronians on their dying planet. He was getting these dishes to lock onto Cybertron, but those slagging organics kept tinkering with the dishes, so he had to waste precious time on stopping the humans. He was successful on permanently locking the dishes in place, and he also took a picture of the three humans. Soundwave misjudged the humans…A lot.

"Arcee, you should be ashamed of letting all your partners die. How can you stay online while you know that it was your fault that Cliffjumper and Tailgate died?" Slipstream asked, baiting Arcee into a trap.

Arcee must've had enough of Slipstream's insults, because she immediately fired away at Slipstream. The Seeker easily dodged Arcee's attacks, and laughed at her. "Is that all you got? Wow, no wonder you lost your partners!" Slipstream smirked, and fired at Arcee with her null rays.

Arcee dodged, eager to see Slipstream in defeat. She took away her guns, and popped out her blades at the side of her servos. She raced straight towards Slipstream at top speed, and began slashing away at the Seeker.

Soundwave was crouching at the top of the cliff, observing the battle. He wanted to help Slipstream defeat Arcee, but his favor began turning to capturing Arcee's human partner. He quietly walked behind the human, and quickly grabbed the human's arm.

"H-Hey! L-Let me go!" the human screamed, squirming around, trying to get away from Soundwave.

Arcee immediately turned around to see why her "partner" screamed. She gasped, and sped towards Soundwave, ready to slash at Soundwave with her blades. As she neared the Decepticon, she readied her blades, but something stopped her. Soundwave's hand that was dangling the human was beginning to grow tighter and tighter like a blood pressure cuff…Only extremely tighter. The human screamed in agony, trying hard to loosen Soundwave's grip, but the human was too weak.

Arcee hesitated to move, wondering if she tried to attack Soundwave, he would hurt the human even more than that. She bit her lip, staring into the optics of Soundwave. "Let. Jack. Go." she commanded. Suddenly, something popped into her mind that might make Soundwave let go of Jack. "Don't you want Lazerbeak back?" she asked.

A part of Soundwave wanted to grab Lazerbeak and leave, but he quickly remembered that the Autobots were planning on putting a virus into Lazerbeak for him to send into the Nemesis so they could gain information on the Decepticons. He shook his head slowly, staring into Arcee's optics.

Arcee screamed in anger, and slashed at Soundwave's legs in top speed. Soundwave fell to the ground, but he wasn't in enough pain to fully drop to the ground. Fortunately or unfortunately, he didn't let go of Jack. Arcee kicked Soundwave in the chest, making Soundwave release the human. Jack fell with a soft thud, but wasn't hurt, even though he was covered in dirt. Soundwave stood up, but was quickly sent back onto the ground by Arcee's blades. Soundwave stayed on the ground, playing dead. Arcee walked up to the Decepticon, looking to see if he was truly offline. Suddenly, Soundwave's servo got ahold of Arcee's neck, and he pulled her up into the air. Arcee struggled to squirm out, but Soundwave's grip was too tight. She kicked Soundwave in the chest, which loosened Soundwave's grip, and she landed back onto the ground. She pulled out her guns, and fired at Soundwave. The Decepticon fell to the ground motionless. Now, he wasn't playing dead. Arcee pointed her guns at his visor, murmuring something, but Soundwave's audio receptors were temporarily messing up.

Suddenly, his body didn't feel numb anymore. He wondered what happened, but he didn't wait and let Arcee kill him. With no hesitation, he extended his tentacles, and slammed into Arcee. She fell to the ground.

Slipstream came out of nowhere, and blasted away at Arcee with her null rays. Arcee countered back with her gun, and shot Slipstream off the cliff, and right at Arcee's feet. Arcee pointed her gun at her, ready to fire at her. Slipstream struggled to get up, but her servos wouldn't let her. Her circuits were obviously fried from Arcee's attack.

Soundwave extended his tentacles to latch onto Arcee's face, and throw her across the clearing. Arcee didn't hesitate to fall back. She called to Jack, and transformed into a motorcycle. Her human partner got onto her, and they quickly drove away.

Soundwave walked up to Slipstream, and pulled her off the ground gently. He pulled her up to his chest and into his arms, wondering if she was alright. He stared directly into her closed optics.

Slipstream slowly opened up her optics, and stared right into Soundwave's optics. "Uh…Hi…" she managed to say. She looked around, and noticed that Arcee and her human partner were gone. "Th-Thanks for saving me." She said, smiling a little.

Soundwave recorded her last sentence, and repeated the recording to her, "Th-Thanks for saving me."

Slipstream nodded at him, and tried to get back up, but her servos wouldn't let her. She laid there in Soundwave's arms, and sighed. "Well, looks like I'm not going anywhere." She groaned, rolling her eyes.

Soundwave stood up with Slipstream in his arms, and carried her out of the clearing back to the Harbinger. He looked back at the energon shards, and recorded the energon mine into his visor. He then carried Slipstream away back to the crashed Decepticon ship.


	4. Chapter 4

Soundwave re-entered the Hargbinger, and carefully placed Slipstream onto a berth so she could rest. He stared at him in curiosity.

"So, you're asking me why I deactivated that stasis lock on your weapons. Well, if you think about it, do you really want my guide to be destroyed by an Autobot?" Slipstream asked, raising her head from the berth a little so she could look at him.

Soundwave nodded one time, and began retracing the coordinates to the energon mine. He glanced back at Slipstream, and exited the crashed Decepticon ship. As he began retracing his steps to the abandoned energon deposit that he engaged in a fight in, he sighed in his mind, praying to Unicron that he'll find his T-Cog during his energon search.

Back at the ship, Slipstream sighed to herself, and slowly got off the berth, still in pain that was still pricking at her circuits even though it was about an hour since she was defeated by the Autobot, Arcee. Of course, she said to herself that she wasn't defeated; she was just weak because she couldn't fly anywhere. A true Starscream clone.

Slipstream was beginning to becoming dazed. She was having trouble walking properly. _Where would those glitched Decepticon scientists stash their energon? _she asked in her mind. She limped out into the hallway, searching for any stash of energon that could be hidden in any room.

After searching almost every single room aboard the Harbinger Slipstream growled to herself, and kicked the wall with the strength she still had. She sighed to herself, and entered the only room that she hadn't searched in. She looked around, her eyes more focused on the dusty computer screens linked to the wall. She looked in the cabinets for anything that is the color blue. She also looked inside some computers, careful not to destroy it if Soundwave would need it for anything. She was beginning to get annoyed for not finding even a single scrap of energon anywhere in the ship. Slipstream accidently kicked a computer in frustration. She gasped softly, and looked up to the screen. Somehow the screen was beginning to turn on. She walked closer to the screen, wondering what was going on. On the top-right of the screen, there was a square blinking. Then, the square enlarged, and it suddenly showed Starscream's face!

Starscream staggered back a bit as he saw Slipstream through the computer screen. "Sl-Slipstream! Wh-What are you doing on the Harbinger?" he asked, tilting his head a little.

Slipstream immediately crossed her arms. "Stop trying to act like you didn't expect me to be here. You obviously told me to come here." she growled, glaring up at Starscream.

"Well, I wasn't acting…" Starscream explained, his voice soft.

"Get to the point, Starscream! What do you want?" Slipstream yelled. Her red optics glowed brighter than usual.

"I was just going to ask if you got what I need. I didn't create you so you can be an ignorant pain in my side!" Starscream explained in a maniacal way.

Slipstream looked down and hesitated to speak. She then hid her hands behind her back.

Starscream growled in anger at her, and crossed his arms. "Do not hide the object from me, Slipstream! I'm not Soundwave, but I can easily tell where you are!" he yelled at her in frustration. He then clenched his fists as his anger grew as Slipstream stood there silently for a few more seconds.

"Starscream, I don't think you need it." Slipstream replied, turning her head away from Starscream.

"What are you talking about, you fool? I need that T-Cog so I can have a chance to stay alive in this world! Then, we can take over the Decepticons together!" Starscream yelled in pure anger. He slammed his fist onto the computer's keyboard, showing his frustration.

Slipstream sighed softly to herself, and slowly took out a T-Cog.

Starscream evilly smiled at her, putting his hands together. "How did you get that T-Cog? You couldn't possibly pluck it out of your own processors; otherwise you wouldn't be able to take flight. Trust me, I know you more than anyone else." he asked in curiosity, even though he was showing an expression that obviously stated that he already knew her answer.

"I didn't take out my own T-Cog, you cyber-glitch!" Slipstream yelled at him, "I…I got it from…" Her voice trailed away as she thought of her victim.

"Go on." Starscream insisted, smiling evilly at her.

"I…I got if from…Soundwave." Slipstream's words finally escaped her mouth. As Starscream's optics glowed in excitement, she was beginning to regret that she stole Soundwave's T-Cog while he was in stasis when they first met.

"You got the T-Cog from Soundwave? How could you possibly take that con's T-Cog? He's basically five steps ahead of all his opponents!" Starscream asked in astonishment, optics widened.

"It…It was easy, Starscream. All you have to do is wait for the right time, and then ambush him." Slipstream answered, rolling her optics at him.

"Do not roll your optics at me!" Starscream scoffed in anger, "Anyway, I'll send you the coordinates to my hiding spot. Go ahead and fly to the coordinates and give me the T-Cog. Then, we'll go and find your other brethren." Starscream put his hands together as he thought of his plan.

"Um…The thing is…" Slipstream's voice trailed off as she placed her hand against the back of her neck in embarrassment.

Starscream turned his head back to Slipstream in curiosity. "What is it?" he asked.

"One of my wings has been clipped, and the wing is missing the tip of it. So, I won't really have the ability to fly until I find that wing tip." Slipstream answered, grinning up at Starscream in embarrassment.

Starscream growled at her in frustration._ "Never_ trust a clone." he muttered to himself. He then looked back into Slipstream's eyes. "Then I will go ahead and go back to the Harbinger. I'm not that far off from the crashed Decepticon ship." Starscream explained.

"Starscream, I don't think that would be a good idea." Slipstream replied, leaning against the computer's keyboard.

She managed to catch Starscream's attention. "Why is _that_ not a good idea?" he asked in curiosity.

"Soundwave is sort of sticking around with me on the Harbinger. He would get pretty suspicious if he sees me carrying around a T-Cog all over the place, and plus, he will get even _more_ suspicious if he notices you anywhere near the Harbinger." Slipstream answered.

"So? He's just a silent glitch from the Well of All Sparks. No one cares about him except that ignorant Megatron." Starscream quickly crossed his arms, and held his chin slightly high.

Slipstream was brought down to silence because of Starscream's comments about Soundwave. Her wings slightly drooped, and she turned her head away from Starscream.

"I'll be coming to the ship no matter what! I'll even rip Soundwave's spark out his body if that's what it takes to get the T-Cog!" Starscream growled, and immediately stopped the transmission.

Slipstream gasped in astonishment, and tried to turn the computer back on. But, even though she was trying her best to figure out how to use the dusty computer, it wouldn't turn on. _That can't be good, _Slipstream thought in worry. She immediately walked out of the room, and down the hallway. She then exited the ship, and began looking around the area from the entrance to the ship. A few minutes later, she could see Soundwave from the corner of her optic. She turned her head to him, seeing that he was carrying a few shards of energon.

Soundwave walked up to Slipstream, and used one of his tentacles to pick up a shard of energon and put the precious shard into Slipstream's hand.

"Thank you, Soundwave." Slipstream said, hiding his T-Cog in her other hand. She was beginning to feel dizzy once more, and she walked back into the Harbinger to recharge her circuits with the energon.

Soundwave entered the ship with her, and dumped the shards of energon in a secret compartment that he discovered once he returned from the battle with Arcee. He then went to the ship's entrance once again, and he stared off to the distance carefully.

Slipstream was wondering what he was looking at, assuming it was Starscream. As she walked up to Soundwave's side, she noticed that a winged figure was on the horizon.

Soundwave must've noticed the figure too because he extended his tentacles, ready to fight once again.

As the figure neared them, the two could already tell the figure was Starscream. The Seeker gasped as he and Soundwave locked optics. Starscream immediately took out his null rays, pointing his weapons at the spymaster. "Slipstream, help me defeat this pitiful Decepticon!" Starscream commanded, looking at the clone.

Slipstream didn't make a move to fight for any side. She didn't even say a word to any of them.

"You're such a pitiful clone!" Starscream yelled at her, and immediately fired at Soundwave.

Soundwave guarded himself from Starscream's attacks with his tentacles, and moved in a little closer to the Seeker. Starscream softly gasped, but after a second or two, he went back to attacking Soundwave. Soundwave easily guarded himself with the sides of his servos, and quickly grabbed Starscream's neck. Starscream gasped, struggling to pry Soundwave's hand off of his neck. Soundwave began to crush Starscream's neck, showing no mercy. Starscream struggled to squirm away from Soundwave's grip, but it was no use; the seeker was no match for the spymaster.

"Stop it, Soundwave!" Slipstream suddenly gripped the servo Soundwave was using to crush Starscream's neck. Then, Soundwave's T-Cog accidently plummeted to the ground while she was trying to make him stop fighting Starscream.

Soundwave quickly turned his head to the fallen T-Cog in astonishment. He then stared into Slipstream's worried eyes, and then he dropped Starscream. He then walked closer to Slipstream. The femme knew he was frustrated at her. She was beginning to regret the day she agreed to Starscream's plans.


	5. Chapter 5

Soundwave picked up his T-Cog that fell onto the ground, and stared at Slipstream once again.

His gaze was too much for Slipstream to handle. She couldn't help herself, and she began leaking from her optics. "I'm sorry, Soundwave! I…I didn't mean to take out your T-Cog. It's Starscream! Please, Soundwave, it's _not_ my fault!" Slipstream pleaded.

"What is wrong with you?" Starscream cried in astonishment and anger, "You are clone of me, aren't you? I don't think I ever back down from any of my opponents without trying to snuff their spark from their chest!"

Soundwave quickly extended his tentacles, and grabbed Starscream's head. He then flung him across the area to make him stop talking. He then turned to Slipstream with his usual blank expression, but deep inside, he was extremely angered at her.

"Soundwave, you have no idea what it is like to be alone for so long! Starscream was the only one who has ever even thought of me! Don't make this even harder for me!" Slipstream yelled, clenching her fists, and then crossed her arms. She glared at the spymaster, but she was struggling to keep her anger away.

Soundwave looked down at his T-Cog, and then turned his head back to Slipstream. He turned his back to her, and then began walking away from her. Slipstream frantically thought what to do next, her wings drooping. She fell into step at Soundwave's side, and she looked into his visor in worry. "Soundwave, I didn't mean to. I wasn't going to give it to Starscream. I don't trust him at all!" Slipstream explained.

The spymaster didn't even bother to turn around to even witness her expression. Soundwave just kept on walking away from Slipstream.

Then, Slipstream's evil side kicked in. "You…You stupid cyber-glitch! You think you're so perfect because you are Megatron's most loyal servant! All you are is a pile of garbage scavenged from the scrapheap!" she screamed in frustration, clenching her fists. She felt like punching Soundwave in the servo, but she knew better to anger a Decepticon she knew she couldn't defeat. Slipstream softly sighed to herself, and walked off back to the Harbinger...Alone.

A few seconds later, Soundwave stopped walking off, and he turned his head back around to see Slipstream. She was already a good distance away from him. He looked down at the T-Cog in his hand. Part of him was saying to abandon the little trickster that goes by the name Slipstream, but another part of him was saying to stay with her so he could _use_ her. But, one part of him that caught his attention the most was the one that told him to stay with her no matter what. He pondered for a moment. Never in his entire life had he encountered any argument with his conscience like that before. He sighed to himself, and silently followed Slipstream back to the Harbinger.

Slipstream's optics were still leaking. She was too busy thinking to hear Soundwave's footsteps not that far behind her. She entered the Harbinger, and put her back against the wall. She slid down the wall, and fell onto the floor. She sighed to herself, and covered her optics with her hands. All she wanted to see was darkness. _Not like I see enough darkness every solar-cycle, _Slipstream thought in sadness.

"Slipstream." a familiar voice came from across the hallway.

Slipstream turned to look across the hallway, wondering who was there. She slowly stood up, and leaned walked a little farther down the hall. "St-Starscream!" she gasped in astonishment.

The pathetic Seeker was crouched in a tight room, his wings barely able to fit inside. "You sound so surprised to see me!" Starscream said in curiosity.

Slipstream didn't hesitate to kick Starscream in the head. She glared in pure frustration at him. "You…Why did you have to lure me into one of your stupid plans?" Slipstream asked in anger. She was struggling to hold back her instinct of destroying her opponent.

"I didn't lure you into my plans, poor Slipstream. You simply chose to agree to my plans. Actually, you did better than I thought you would do. Now, where is that T-Cog you promised to give to me?" Starscream put out a hand, expecting his clone to give him Soundwave's precious T-Cog.

"One, I don't have it! And two, why would I ever trust you anymore?" Slipstream explained in anger. She then exited the room, but she didn't let Starscream go that easily. Before she left the pathetic Seeker, she readied her null rays, and fired at his shoulder. Starscream screamed in pain, and then Slipstream closed the door. As she walked down the hallway and she was about to turn the corner, she accidently ran into Soundwave…Literally. Slipstream stepped back once in sadness, "Don't worry. I was just on my way out. You don't need to get your circuits in a bunch." She was having a hard time keeping her sassy personality.

Soundwave shook his head, and showed her his T-Cog in his hand.

"Can't you reinstall your T-Cog yourself?" Slipstream asked, giving him a fake stern look. She crossed her arms, and turned her head away from him.

Soundwave walked a little closer to her, as if he was pleading to her.

Slipstream glanced back at Soundwave, and uncrossed her arms. She gave him a smirk, and sighed softly. "Well, where will you be without me?" she asked cheerfully. She walked off towards the medical berth so she could reinstall Soundwave's T-Cog.

The spymaster followed Slipstream, and he got onto the medical berth. He turned his head to look at Slipstream, and he handed her his precious T-Cog.

"D-Do you really trust me with this?" Slipstream asked in worry. She was hesitating to take the cybertronian organ from him.

Soundwave nodded one time, and looked up to the ceiling.

Slipstream sighed, and carefully took Soundwave's T-Cog from his hand. She gazed into the glowing center, almost lost in thought. She quickly snapped out of her hypnotic gaze, and stared at Soundwave. "I'm sorry…For everything." she murmured placing one hand to the back of her neck. She turned her head away, and rummaged through the medical tools stuffed into a toolbox placed on a counter.

Soundwave said nothing, and his vision began fading away as he caught a glimpse of Slipstream with a small drill in her hand. His vision faded to blackness, and a sharp pain emanated from his chest.

* * *

He woke up, and the first thing he saw was the ceiling. He slowly sat up, looking around for Slipstream. To his right side, Slipstream was sitting on the counter, about to fall into stasis. He reached out a servo. Soundwave carefully shook Slipstream's shoulder, trying to wake her up.

Slipstream's optics opened and closed a few times. After that, she yawned softly, and stared at Soundwave. "Sorry, I drifted off into stasis mode. I'm just tired, that's all." she explained, smiling at him. She leaped off the counter, and tilted her head as she looked at him. "Do you feel like you are different somehow?" Slipstream asked in curiosity.

Soundwave quickly walked out of the Harbinger, and looked up into the sky. He turned back to Slipstream, who followed him out. With another look at the sky above his head, he began transforming back into his alt mode.

Slipstream gasped in astonishment as Soundwave took flight. She smiled at the sight of him, but she was also disappointed that she couldn't follow him into the air as well. She just stood there in silence as Soundwave enjoyed his time in the air. The spymaster suddenly took a sharp left, and he began flying away from Slipstream. Slipstream felt like following him, but she knew she couldn't keep up with him. _H-He left me, _Slipstream thought in sadness. She sighed, and crouched down to the ground, staring at the rocks at her feet.

A few minutes later, a screech roared in Slipstream's ears. She looked up to the sky, and saw Soundwave returning to the Harbinger. The spymaster soon transformed back to his robot mode, and landed with a soft thud back onto his feet. He quickly got up, and turned to Slipstream. He walked up to her with something in his hand. As Slipstream stared at his hand, she soon knew what he was holding. "My wing part!" she cried in happiness, and sprinted up to Soundwave. She then gave the Decepticon a small kiss on the visor, and she snatched the wing part away from him. She stared at the wing part, and smiled at Soundwave. "Thank you."

Soundwave had no idea what to do next after that. Slipstream must've done_ that_ by accident, but he was confused. _Slipstream? Do you…? _Soundwave thought, but his thought faded away from his mind. All he wanted to see was Slipstream's smile. _Strange, _the spymaster thought, staring at the Seeker in front of him. Again, he had no idea what to do after that.


	6. Chapter 6

Slipstream quickly carried her precious wing part back into the Harbinger with Soundwave following her inside. She rummaged in the tool box on the counter, and easily reattached the missing part back to her wing. She turned around towards Soundwave, and smiled at him. "So, how do I look?" she asked.

Soundwave had no idea how to answer her question. He thought for a few moments, and then slowly nodded at her, trying to be careful on how he tells her.

Slipstream crossed her arms and glared at him. "Gee, you're so thoughtful." she murmured to him, and walked back out of the Harbinger. She looked to the sky, and quickly transformed into an F-16 Fighting Falcon; the same jet mode as Starscream's.

As she began flying through the sky for the first time in a few days, Soundwave calmly exited the crashed Decepticon ship, and watched Slipstream fly around the place. He then transformed into his alt mode, and took off to follow her through the sky. He easily sped right in front of her, almost making her stop in mid-air.

Slipstream wobbled a little in the air, and she groaned to him in anger. "What was _that_ for, you cyber-glitch?" she yelled. Instead of frustration emanating from her words, there was a hint of cheerfulness hidden in her sentence. She sped up to Soundwave's side, and then she began flying faster and faster in front of him.

Soundwave quickly followed her, oblivious to where they were heading. It was about an hour until he actually glanced down to the ground. He could vaguely remember where they were flying. The plateaus they were flying above were also bringing back some memories of previous Decepticon battles. _This place must be what those humans call Jasper, Nevada, _Soundwave thought, and he began flying closer to the ground. As he neared the ground, he transformed back into his robot mode, and he looked around the loosely familiar area.

Slipstream quickly followed him to the ground, and transformed into her robot mode. She looked around as well. "Why did you land all of a sudden?" she asked, crossing her arms and tilting her head at him.

Soundwave looked back at Slipstream, and gave her a sign to be quiet for a little. He looked to the plateaus, and began searching for any electrical transmissions around where they were. A few minutes later, he began receiving some transmissions on a com link. He easily remembered the voices of the bots on the com link. It was Arcee and Bulkhead once again.

"What happened out there, Arcee?" Bulkhead asked in worry.

"I…I just got into a fight with Soundwave, that's all. How come Ratchet isn't activating the ground bridge? I'm kind of hurt badly." Arcee replied, his voice a little shaken; probably because of the battle against Soundwave.

"Ratchet is out with Optimus, and Bumblebee is out patrolling. I'm on my way back to the base. Miko and Raf are at base with Agent Fowler." a question suddenly popped into Bulkhead's mind, "Hey, what happened to Jack? Didn't he go with you to that abandoned energon mine?"

"He's alright. Thank Primus for that." Arcee said in relief.

The human, Jack, began speaking through the com link. "Bulkhead, how's…Um…That flying drone thing doing?" Jack asked in curiosity.

"Do you mean Lazerbeak? Miko and Raf have the little con. The drone must still be in stasis. It hasn't been moving for a while." Bulkhead explained. A few moments later, Bulkhead began talking once again. "I'm nearing the tunnel back to base. Once I'm in, I'll ground bridge you right in." he added.

"Thanks, Bulk." Arcee said, and shut the com link off.

Slipstream walked up to Soundwave, smiling a little. "It sounds like the Autobots have Lazerbeak in their base. Well, do you want your little mini-con back?" she asked, tilting her head.'

Soundwave nodded one time, determined to retrieve his missing drone. After all, he hasn't found his other mini-cons, Ravage, Frenzy, or Ratbat, which means that Lazerbeak is the only mini-con that is still not missing or offline.

"First, we have to find out where the Autobot base is. We can't just turn on our com links and ask where they are hiding Lazerbeak." Slipstream explained.

Soundwave stared at her in silence.

"No…Just no! Don't even think of doing that! We just have to patrol Jasper, Nevada and look for any Autobot." Slipstream cried, clenching her fists.

Right after Slipstream finished her last sentence, Bulkhead immediately came speeding across the black pavement from a great amount of distance, and the plateau in front of the wrecker made an entrance to a tunnel appear. Bulkhead drove right through the tunnel, and the entrance quickly disappeared as the wrecker disappeared from view.

Slipstream smirked and chuckled. "Well," she murmured, "That was easier than I thought." She walked towards the plateau, observing the walls where the tunnel appeared when Bulkhead came. "This must be the Autobot base." Slipstream added, smiling at the wall.

Soundwave followed Slipstream to the plateau, looking at the wall. He began scanning the plateau, searching for any weak spot on the wall.

Slipstream sighed in boredom. "You're just making this task harder for yourself." she groaned, and walked up to the black pavement. She stepped one foot on the road, and her other foot followed her. She began walking closer to the plateau wall. After she quickly covered several yards of pavement, the entrance began appearing, revealing the tunnel as Slipstream walked closer and closer. She smiled, and immediately began sprinting towards the plateau.

As Soundwave observed her actions, he then quickly followed her into the tunnel. As they entered the tunnel, the entrance closed, and Soundwave and Slipstream could barely see anything inside.

"The Autobots _really_ need more security in this place._ Anyone_ could just walk up to the wall, and make the tunnel appear." Slipstream groaned, rolling her optics. Her optics were the only things that were giving off a good amount of light. Soundwave couldn't help but stare straight into her beautiful crimson optics. The spymaster followed Slipstream through the tunnel, but then he stopped when another transmission came to him.

"Bulk, ground bridge me in from the coordinates I'm at right now." Arcee said.

"Sure thing, Arcee." Bulkhead replied, and he shut the com link off right after.

As Slipstream and Soundwave were almost to the end of the tunnel, a blue-green portal suddenly appeared right in front of them. An engine roaring could be easily heard, and then it grew quieter as the portal began disappearing. Soundwave quickly pushed Slipstream into the shadows of the tunnel, hiding both of them from sight.

"It looks like you're leaking from your servo a little, Arcee." Bulkhead explained.

"I know, but I think I'll be alright. Just some patching up and that would be it." Arcee said, still in her alt mode. She then transformed back into her robot mode as Jack got off of the motorcycle seat.

As Soundwave peered through the darkness, he noticed a familiar figure next to a black and pink-haired human femme and a small brown-haired human. It was Lazerbeak! The spymaster couldn't help himself, but release himself from the safety of the shadows, and appear in plain sight right in front of the Autobots.

Arcee gasped in shock, "It's Soundwave!" She looked back at the three humans, "Go and hide!" After she ordered her command, she transformed her servos into her guns, ready to fire at Soundwave. Bulkhead transformed one of his servos into his traditional wrecking ball, also ready to fight.

Before Soundwave could do anything to attack the two Autobots with, Slipstream ran up to Soundwave's side, and quickly blasted her null rays straight towards Arcee. Her shot hit her target directly in the place where Arcee was leaking, making her leak more energon.

Soundwave glanced towards Lazerbeak who was lying on the ground, motionless. He extended one of his tentacles right towards Bulkhead's side, which the wrecker was blocking. Soundwave used his other tentacle to attack Bulkhead from the back of the wrecker's head. Bulkhead grabbed the tentacle at his head, and pulled onto it. Soundwave was pulled towards the wrecker's wrecking ball, but he ricocheted right off of Bulkhead's servo, and then kicked the wrecker in the head, blinding Bulkhead for a short time. Soundwave used the time he received from blinding the wrecker, and sprinted towards Lazerbeak. Arcee looked at him, and fired at him with one of her servos while her other servo was busy fighting Slipstream. Soundwave quickly dodged her attack, and he grabbed Lazerbeak off of the ground while Arcee was still trying to fire at his back. He leaped off of the ramp, and threw Lazerbeak into the air, and it transformed back to fit into Soundwave's chest. The mini-con then landed safely in the grooves on Soundwave's chest, finally back with its master.

Soundwave wasn't able to celebrate for even a nano-klick since Slipstream caught his optic. She was in a melee battle with Arcee, using her null ray as a sword against the two-wheeler's blades. It was obvious that Slipstream was losing the fight. Soundwave looked down at Lazerbeak, and released the mini-con to attack Arcee. Lazerbeak followed Soundwave's command, and flew straight at Arcee. It fired one shot at the two-wheeler, and Arcee was already down. But, Lazerbeak fell to the ground because of how weak it was.

Soundwave quickly grabbed Lazerbeak off of the ground, and helped Slipstream up. He looked into her tried optics, and looked back at the two weak Autobots. Slipstream blinked her optics open, and quickly transformed back into her alt mode. She then sped off into the tunnel to escape the Autobot base. Soundwave placed Lazerbeak back into his chest, and transformed into his alt mode. He then quickly followed Slipstream out of the Autobot base.

As they got out of the tunnel, Slipstream slowed down so Soundwave could catch up to her. "Are you happy now?" she asked.

Soundwave said nothing, but he was happy to be reunited with his prized drone. But, even though the memories he had with Lazerbeak returned to his mind, it was like something helped him not miss the drone at all.


	7. Chapter 7

The Sun had already disappeared, and the Moon was fully covered by a large blanket of clouds high above the sky. Only the city lights from miles away were the only brightness in the lonely place known as Jasper, Nevada. Slipstream and Soundwave could barely see what was right in front of them, making it hard for them to fly through the air in their alt mode.

"Soundwave, could we stop for the night? I can't even see anything around me. My processors are beginning to tire out, especially after that fight against Bulkhead and Arcee." Slipstream sighed, trying to keep herself from falling down to the ground.

Soundwave checked his surroundings through his visor. He was able to see where the Harbinger was. The crashed Decepticon ship was about thirty minutes away if they kept on flying. But, something in his head told him to give Slipstream a break. He began flying close to the ground, ready to land. Slipstream immediately followed him. They transformed back into their robot mode, and Slipstream yawned loudly next to Soundwave.

"Thanks for stopping, Soundwave. There's canyon walls surrounding us and we're far from the Autobot base. I'm sure no one will find us resting our circuits here." Slipstream yawned, and walked up to the canyon wall. She then plopped down on the ground, beginning to close her optics so she could fall into stasis.

Soundwave walked up to Slipstream, and sat down right next to her, beginning to feel the claws of sleep pulling him in. But, he fought it off, and looked at tired Slipstream.

"Wh…What's up?" Slipstream asked, opening her optics, and she looked at him in curiosity. Soundwave just looked at her, but Slipstream knew what he was asking her. "Why I am helping you survive on Earth alone and find your missing drone?" Slipstream paused, lost in thought. It took her a minute or two to finally answer his question. "To be honest, I have never really seen another Decepticon since…" her voice trailed off, and she closed her eyes, as if picturing the memory.

Soundwave stared at her face, silently pleading to her so she could finish her answer.

"Please don't tell anyone about this, alright?" Slipstream asked, wanting to be sure she could trust Soundwave. Soundwave nodded one time. Slipstream sighed, "Me and the other Starscream clones were ordered to infiltrate the Decepticon warship Megatron was on, and we were successful on boarding the ship. But, those idiotic clones were too easy to kill. They were already dead in the first thirty minutes of being on the Nemesis. But, before Megatron or the vehicons could kill me, I fled the scene, and took refuge near the Harbinger. Starscream found me in my hiding spot, and promised me that I wouldn't have to hide from anyone if I join his plans. At first, I rejected him, but I didn't want to hide from anyone any longer. So, I agreed to his plans and the first thing I had to do was take someone's T-Cog. I…Took your T-Cog, but I told myself to _never_ give it to Starscream. When you encountered him last time, something did make me wonder. He said that he and I would go and find my brethren. I knew 'brethren' meant the other clones. But, the clones were killed. I don't want to know if Thrust, Dirge, Ramjet, Skywarp, Sunstorm and Thundercracker were alive. They…They aren't worthy of serving the Decepticons. Soundwave, my life already went downhill and crashed when Starscream created me from a protoform. I don't know what to do."

Soundwave stared into Slipstream's optics. Sorrow could be seen in her pupils. He had no idea how to calm her down but one thing. For the first time, he revealed his face from behind his visor, but partially. He revealed his mouth only, and slowly moved his face closer to Slipstream's. The Seeker hesitated for a few seconds, but then made herself move closer to Soundwave. The spymaster quickly kissed her; he was a little nervous since Slipstream was the first femme that had feelings for him. Slipstream kissed him back, her spark skipping a beat. After a few minutes, Soundwave snaked his arms around Slipstream's hips, and pushed her against the canyon wall. Slipstream's back touched the wall. She was lost in thought, but she quickly snapped out of it by pushing Soundwave away from her with a quick push.

"Soundwave, I think we should get some sleep." Slipstream quietly explained, and lied down on the ground, beginning to close her optics.

Soundwave put his visor back down, and stared at Slipstream in confusion. _You're so stupid, Soundwave! _he thought, groaning to himself. He then got to a conclusion to go ahead and sleep. But, he was still arguing to himself why they would need the energy. The two of them wouldn't be infiltrating another Autobot base for a while. He could fix up Lazerbeak, but what would he do for the rest of the solar-cycle? _I bet all the energon on Earth that Slipstream wouldn't want to kiss again tomorrow, _Soundwave thought, and closed his optics. He then fell into a bad night's stasis, barely able to keep himself from waking up.

The next day, Soundwave woke up to see Slipstream staring at the sunrise from the edge of the cliff. He got off the ground, and walked up to her. As he got to Slipstream's side, he looked to his right to stare into her optics once again.

"Good morning, Soundwave." Slipstream greeted to him with a blank expression, not even turning to look back at him.

Soundwave kept on staring at her, gesturing to her his question just by tilting his head slightly.

"Soundwave, I'm fine. I'm just a little confused, ok?" Slipstream explained, looking down and closing her optics.

Soundwave didn't take her optics away from her. He wanted more than just a short answer like that.

"I don't want to talk about it right now." Slipstream growled, clenching her fists as she finished her sentence. She then crossed her arms, and turned her back towards Soundwave.

The spymaster put one hand onto Slipstream's shoulder, but she just brushed his servo away. She turned her head around, and glared back at him with her crimson optics. "Please leave me alone." she pleaded, gritting her teeth. She then turned her head back around so she wouldn't have to look at him any longer.

Soundwave didn't know what to do, so he just did what Slipstream told him to, and left her alone on the cliff. He walked away from her, and looked up at the last drops of twilight being chased away from the sky by the beams of sunlight. He couldn't help but think if Slipstream thought that he was a cyber-glitch. She always teased him by calling him a cyber-glitch, but he had a feeling that his "nickname" was true. Soundwave looked down to the ground, lost in thought. He was thinking about Slipstream so much that he hadn't noticed a warship coming up to them.

"Soundwave!" Slipstream cried in astonishment as she realized that there was a warship coming towards them.

Soundwave quickly snapped out of his lonely forest of darkness, and looked up to see the ship. He immediately knew what the warship was. It was the Nemesis! He glanced around to look for Slipstream, but she was already in her alt mode, flying up towards the Decepticon warship. His first action was to follow her, and so he did. He transformed into his alt mode, and followed Slipstream up into the air. He flew to the top of the warship and landed there, returning to his robot mode.

As he landed on the top of the ship, a hatch opened up, and Knockout and Dreadwing appeared from inside the warship. Anyone could clearly read the astonishment on Knockout's face. "It's…It's…" Knockout stuttered in shock.

"It's Soundwave!" Dreadwing turned his head to Knockout, "You said that Soundwave was killed by the Autobots!"

"He must have dark energon in his spark chamber! Can't you see that he has some purple color on him?" Knockout asked, pointing to Soundwave.

_Aren't I always like this? _Soundwave thought, sighing to himself and looked down. He then looked up at Knockout and Dreadwing, and extended his tentacles for another fight.

"Whatever! Let's just fight this 'walking dead Soundwave' already!" Dreadwing growled, gritting his teeth, and transformed his hand into a gun, and fired at Soundwave. Knockout also did the same, firing at the spymaster.

Soundwave quickly dodged their attacks, landing back on his feet with grace. He extended his tentacles at the two in a zig-zag motion.

"Oh Soundwave, do you _really_ think I don't know how you fight battles?" Knockout asked with a smirk on his face. He easily grabbed Soundwave's tentacle, and pulled onto it hard. Soundwave dug his foot into the metal beneath his feet, trying to keep himself from being literally swept off his feet. But, that didn't last long because he immediately got flung towards Knockout. Before Knockout could do anything to Soundwave, Dreadwing quickly grabbed Soundwave's neck, almost crushing him.

"Take him into captivity." Dreadwing ordered, glancing back at Knockout.

Knockout was speechless. But, he began to feel much calmer somehow. He took out his stasis cuffs so he could take Soundwave into custody.

"Don't use stasis cuffs on him, Knockout. I have a plan." Dreadwing smirked, and grabbed Soundwave's servo. Knockout hesitated one time, but he followed Dreadwing's orders. Soundwave knew he couldn't do anything. Even though he was a powerful Decepticon, Megatron would have his head if he snuffed out Dreadwing and Knockout's sparks. He just followed them back into the Nemesis through the hatch. They then disappeared from sight.

But, Soundwave forgot something. Slipstream was still flying around as an F-16 Fighting Falcon with Lazerbeak following her. "It looks like he left you and me for Megatron." Slipstream sighed in sadness. Lazerbeak cawed back at her in confusion as they flew away from the Nemesis. The two of them knew it was impossible to take on all the Decepticons with only two fighters.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Author Note:** I hope all of you had a great 4__th__ of July! I spent half of the day trolling the stores for a TFP Soundwave Robots in Disguise Deluxe Class figure…So I hope you guys had a good time at least!_

* * *

Dreadwing snickered at the sight of Slipstream and Lazerbeak retreating before he closed the hatch. After a few seconds, he climbed back into the Nemesis, dragging Soundwave across a hallway inside the Decepticon warship. He stopped walking and looked back at the Spymaster. "What happened to you? Knockout said you were killed!" Dreadwing asked in confusion. He then shot Knockout a menacing stare.

Soundwave turned his head towards Knockout, and looked back at Dreadwing.

Dreadwing frowned at Knockout, and walked up to him in suspicion. "So, what's with all the lying to a high-ranked officer? To Megatron?" he hissed, clenching his fists.

"Haven't you thought of this before you accuse one of your comrades? If you don't know yet, Megatron would be absolutely frustrated that Soundwave was defeated by those stupid Autobots! What would calm Megatron down more than hearing the one who failed got what he deserved?" Knockout explained, a little shaky.

Soundwave of course knew he was lying, but Dreadwing nodded to Knockout in agreement. The Spymaster assumed that Dreadwing was desperate to keep Megatron happy because of the pathetic blunder he accomplished back on the day when Soundwave was abandoned by the Decepticons. _It sounds like something he would do, _Soundwave thought, tipping his head to the side.

Dreadwing turned his head away from Knockout, and easily picked up Soundwave by his neck, and glared into Soundwave's optics. "So, do you_ really_ think the Decepticons would welcome you back? You might be one of Megatron's first followers before the Great War, but I doubt he would let a weakling like you aboard the warship." he growled, gritting his teeth in anger.

"Should we tell Megatron?" Knockout asked, briefly interrupting Dreadwing.

"Did someone processor-wash you or something? Megatron is off looking for my dark energon! I have no idea why, but he is! He_ absolutely_ ordered every Decepticon not to call him over the com link!" Dreadwing growled in frustration. He smacked Knockout at the back of the head, and glared at Soundwave. "But for now, we're going to keep you under close survelliance. Don't think about escaping because if you do, we'll find you. And rip your spark out of its chamber, and feed it to the insecticons!" Dreadwing hissed, and slammed Soundwave against the wall easily.

Pain struck Soundwave in the back, but he chose not to react. It would only make him look weak to Knockout and Dreadwing. He would just have to bluff his way to his escape route.

Dreadwing dragged Soundwave by the neck, and walked towards the jail cells with Knockout quickly following behind them. As he got to an empty jail cell, he threw Soundwave into the cell, and cackled as Soundwave slowly tried to get off the ground. "Have a nice time looking at the Decepticons passing by, because it would probably be your last when Megatron returns from his search for dark energon." Dreadwing smirked, and locked Soundwave's jail cell. He then walked off out of Soundwave's line of sight.

Knockout glared at Soundwave through the jail bars with a menacing grin on his face. "This is your fate for stealing the spotlight from me! Everyone knows Megatron favors you over every single Decepticon on the Nemesis! Let this be your punishment." he crossed his arms, and then quickened his pace so he could keep following Dreadwing.

Soundwave stared through the jail bars in sadness. He was a great Decepticon and always loyal to Megatron; and this was his reward! He watched as many vehicons strode by, giving backward glances to him every now and then. He was able to hear a vehicon's conversation to another vehicon. He was saying something about how pathetic he was for abandoning the Decepticons in their time of need. _Knockout has everyone in the palm of his servos, _Soundwave thought, sitting down on the ground with his back against the wall. He then began thinking of Slipstream and Lazerbeak. He looked down at his chest, as if wondering if he actually didn't leave his precious drone behind. Unfortunately, he_ did_ leave the drone behind. He sighed to himself, and then began thinking of Slipstream. _Maybe she's looking for me right now, _Soundwave thought, and looked down at the ground.

* * *

Slipstream transformed back into her robot mode on top of a cliff. Lazerbeak followed her down to the ground and perched onto her starboard wing. "I can't believe he just left us here so he could rejoin the Decepticons. And to add insult to injury, I can't believe he left _you_ behind! You are a superb drone, and I can't see Soundwave still online without you." she said softly.

Lazerbeak's wings drooped and dangled over Slipstream's wing.

"I'm sorry I said that, but I still can't believe he would leave us behind. Doesn't he like…?" Slipstream's voice trailed off as sadness consumed her.

Lazerbeak turned to look at Slipstream's face in curiosity. The drone was wondering what she was going to say before she broke into sadness.

Slipstream turned her head towards Lazerbeak and shrugged at him. "I…I was going to say, 'doesn't he like us to rejoin the Decepticons once again? He didn't keep his part of the deal." she lied, crossing her arms and closed her optics. She turned her head away from Lazerbeak, not wanting to show her sadness to him. It would probably make Lazerbeak even more suspicious. "Let's go find a good hiding spot. Soundwave would've told Megatron about us and made the Decepticons track us down." Slipstream explained and transformed into her alt mode as she leaped off the cliff. Lazerbeak quickly got off Slipstream's wing and followed her across Jasper, Nevada.

Slipstream looked around the canyon walls for a safe hiding spot so she and Lazerbeak could take refuge. "Look over there, Lazerbeak. There's a little cave where we can hide." She called out to the drone, and dived towards the cave. As she neared the ground, she transformed back into her robot mode, and Lazerbeak perched back onto Slipstream's wing. She walked towards the cave, silently leaking from her optics as she kept on thinking of Soundwave.

As she got inside, a pair of purple optics glowed from the shadows of the cave. Slipstream quickly readied her null rays, assuming it was an enemy. The pair of optics came closer and closer to Slipstream.

"Show yourself! Quit using the darkness as your shield like a pathetic weakling and fight like a true bot!" Slipstream hissed, staring at the intense purple optics. Just looking at the optics was making her feel shaken up.

"Look who came to join the party." a voice beckoned from the darkness.

"Show yourself!" Slipstream ordered. She could hear Lazerbeak's soft cawing on her right wing.

"Very well." the voice replied, and something suddenly zipped past Slipstream's head. Slipstream knew something was moving around her. Then, a pincer of some sort grabbed her neck, and dragged her towards the sunlight. Slipstream quickly looked up to see who was dragging her out of the cave, and looked up at a spider-like femme above her. "Wh-What?" she gasped in astonishment.

"Are you that surprised about my appearance?" the spider-like femme asked, and then she chuckled as Slipstream immediately got up from the ground, "The name is Airachnid." She crouched down to Slipstream with a menacing smile on her face.

"Ai-Airachnid…?" Slipstream stuttered. She couldn't say anything else. She was wondering how a bot with an organic-like look could be so menacing. She just stood on the ground motionless and speechless.

Airachnid walked a few circles around Slipstream, and then placed a pincer around Slipstream's neck. "I've heard so much about you." she said, and turned her attention towards Lazerbeak. "What a lovely pet. But, it looks utterly familiar to me." Airachnid explained, observing the drone. After a minute or two, she gave the drone a smirk and nodded with her optics closed. "I remember now. This drone is Lazerbeak, one of Soundwave's cassettes. But what is this poor thing doing with a bot like you?" she asked with a smile on her face.

Slipstream said nothing to her. She gave Lazerbeak a few glances, gesturing to him not to do anything suspicious to make Airachnid attack them.

"I see what you're doing. You're going to play the quiet game with me. Fine, I'll play the game too. And I'm sure Lazerbeak would like to play as well." Airachnid smirked, and quickly grabbed Lazerbeak off Slipstream's wing with a pincer. With another pincer, she quickly jabbed into the center of Lazerbeak. The drone gave off a shaken screech as electricity was released from where Airachnid stabbed him. Then, the drone's slightly glowing symbol then lost its gleaming color.

"Lazerbeak!" Slipstream cried in shock. She watched as Airachnid took out her pincer out of her victim and dropped the drone onto the ground. Poor Lazerbeak lay motionless, as if he was offline. She was about to crouch down to grab Lazerbeak, but Airachnid pulled her up by the neck with her own servo.

"If you don't want to end up like Soundwave's little pal here, then I suggest you to do everything I say." Airachnid maniacally growled at Slipstream.

Slipstream groaned as she tried to squirm out of Airachnid's grip, but she was too weak compared to the spider-bot. She just let Airachnid do what she wanted.

"Good girl, Slipstream." Airachnid smiled, and looked back at the nearly destroyed Lazerbeak, "Lazerbeak is one of Soundwave's prized possessions, so I don't see why _you_ would have the drone. So, why is it that you have it? Well, if I have observed Lazerbeak enough, I would say that Soundwave was captured by the Decepticons."

"Well, you're wrong there. Soundwave abandoned Lazerbeak and me." Slipstream had to blurt out. Sadness fumed from her circuits as she began thinking of Soundwave's betrayal to her.

Airachnid's eyes widened in curiosity. She then smiled at Slipstream. "What a surprising turn of events." she said, "I was once commander of the Nemesis, so I was able to know a lot about the Decepticons and their warship. I can help you get back to the Decepticons. And also get your precious Soundwave back."

Slipstream had no idea what to answer to Airachnid. Something suddenly came over her processors. Without even a second chance of rethinking her answer, she nodded to Airachnid in confidence.

Airachnid smiled at her and released Slipstream from her grip. "Thank you for thinking it over, Slipstream. Now, I am sure you know about dark energon."

Slipstream slowly nodded, uncertain what would happen after that.

Airachnid chuckled to herself, and took out a shard of dark energon. She walked closer to Slipstream with a maniacal grin. "This little thing would just sting." Airachnid explained, and stabbed Slipstream in the spark chamber with the dark energon.

Slipstream gasped loudly, and fell to the ground as the dark energon began flowing through her circuits. She screamed as the dark energon overpowered her control of her own body. As she opened her optics, her optics grew purple and as she screamed loudly once again, purple flames rose from her body. As the flames subsided, she got up to Airachnid and glared at the spider-bot.

Airachnid smiled as she crossed her arms, and put a hand onto one of Slipstream's shoulders. "Welcome your new power, Slipstream. With your strength, we'll overtake the Decepticons."

From behind a rock, Starscream was carefully listening to their conversation. He softly gasped as he poked his head around the rock to see Slipstream filled with dark energon. _I…I can't believe this,_ he thought to himself.


	9. Chapter 9

Starscream was about to bolt away from the scene until a pincer grabbed his neck and pulled him up into the air. His optics widened as Airachnid's optics glared straight into his own optics.

"Look who's here, Slipstream. It's the one that created you as a weakling." Airachnid chuckled to Slipstream.

Slipstream crossed her arms and simply slowly walked up to Starscream. She leaned closer to the Seeker and grinned at his face. She didn't say a word to him, however.

"Did the dark energon rip out your voice box? Say something, you fragging clone!" Starscream hissed, clenching his fists. The way he was speaking made it seem like Airachnid wasn't even there. But the spider-bot didn't mind it. She just stood there and watched the two Seekers argue.

Slipstream gently stroked Starscream's cheek, catching him off-guard. He stuttered, trying to bat Slipstream away, but Airachnid was holding his hands together with her pincers. Slipstream moved her head closer to him with a smile on her face. Starscream stared at her in surprise. He wondered if Slipstream actually liked him.

"Sl-Slipstream, what are you doing?" Starscream asked in astonishment. His hands trembled behind his back, showing his surprise.

Before Slipstream could even touch his lips with her's, she spread out her right hand and drove her claws into Starscream's chest, only a few inches away from his spark chamber. Starscream's head hang low as energon leaked from his fresh wound. He slowly raised his head up to Slipstream with pain shown in his optics.

"Slipstream, I…I thought you are loyal to me…" Starscream gasped, breathing heavily. The leaking energon dripped to the ground even faster as Slipstream drove her claws deaper into Starscream's body. He could feel Slipstream's claws beginning to drill right through him. His vision began to fade and he wobbled back and forth.

"Good girl, Slipstream. Finish the job." Airachnid commanded in a nice way so Slipstream wouldn't be angered in her new state of power.

Slipstream nodded to Airachnid, and stared at Starscream's dull optics. Without any hesitation, she drove her claws straight through Starscream, and Starscream gasped loudly as pain literally pierced his body. He breathed extremely heavily as even more energon leaked out of his circuitry. As Slipstream quickly pulled out her claws, Starscream immediately fell to the ground with a soft thud. A large pool of energon surrounded Starscream. Slipstream gave her victim a menacing smile before she turned her head back to Airachnid.

"That was a great kill, my dear Slipstream. But if you _really_ want to have some fun killing others, then you must torture your victim a little more. Let every single squeal of pain count." Airachnid explained with a small smile on her face. She looked up at the sky with a blank expression on her face. She then turned her head back to Slipstream. "Do you want to go and take over the Decepticons?" Airachnid asked.

"Of course I do, Airachnid." Slipstream eagerly answered, clenching her fists at the spider-bot.

"Too bad. We haven't sought out your true power yet. We must…Find you a new training partner." Airachnid smirked.

Slipstream growled in anger, "But I can take care of every single Decepticon easily! You just saw me murder that stupid Starscream!"

"I know that, but Starscream is an arrogant fool. He thinks he is the most powerful Decepticon, but he is merely just a power-hungry bot that wants to be more powerful than Megatron." Airachnid explained with a tinge of anger in her tone of voice.

Slipstream crossed her arms at Airachnid, but didn't counter back with a useless reason she should attack the Nemesis. She just nodded at her silently.

* * *

A few hours later, a vehicon walked to Soundwave's jail cell with a small cube of energon in one hand. It then threw the cube at Soundwave, trying to hit his head. Soundwave quickly grabbed the energon cube in mid-air and glared at the vehicon. The vehicon staggered back a little, but then walked away from the jail cell.

Soundwave stared at the small energon cube. He missed the way things were before he met Slipstream; he could have all the energon he could ask for, and all he had to do was walk down the hallway to the well-guarded energon storage room. Now, all he can get for fuel is scraps left behind by the vehicons. He took one last look at the cube of energon before he revealed his mouth and drank up the precious fuel.

A faint clanging of metal came from near the jail cell. Soundwave moved closer to the jail bars, wondering what could've caused that sound. The vehicon guarding his cell looked to the left and quickly ran off for some strange reason. Soundwave looked to the left and noticed a small metal figure with huge blue-violet optics was nibbling on the feet of a vehicon.

_Scraplets? _Soundwave thought as he stared at the hungry little carnivore. He was trying to be quiet as possible so he won't get the scraplet's attention.

Dozens of scraplets joined in on the feast, ripping the metal off of the vehicon. A minute or two later, they were beginning to devour the circuits extremely fast. Soon, nothing was left of the poor vehicon. Suddenly, the scraplets turned their heads to Soundwave. They immediately went to attack the Spymaster, their fangs wanting to graze through a piece of metal once more. Soundwave quickly put his servo up to guard himself, but he knew that wouldn't be enough to protect himself from the hungry scraplets.

After a few seconds have gone by, Soundwave began wondering why they haven't dug their teeth into his servos. As he glanced back to the scraplets, he noticed that they were chewing through the jail bars. Soundwave immediately sat up as he watched the little robots create his escape route. As the scraplets were busy eating the bars, Soundwave slipped between the scraplets, who were busy eating the bars. He then silently ran across the hallway, watching his surroundings for any cons. He easily sneaked across the hallway to the room that controls the bay doors. He quietly clicked buttons on the keyboard, opening the doors so he could escape. A few seconds later, the bay doors opened. Soundwave quickly walked to the edge and leaped off, plummeting to the ground at high speed. Then, something grabbed his foot from above. _It must be Knockout or Dreadwing, _he thought before he looked up. As Soundwave looked up to his foot, his optics widened in astonishment. He remembered that helicopter; it was Airachnid.

He reached his servos out to swipe at Airachnid, but it was no use. He could only graze his claws at the skids.

Airachnid gave out a menacing chuckle as Soundwave struggled to attack her, "Calm down, Soundwave. At least you are out of the Decepticon's reach." She then flew off with him away from the Decepticon warship.

Soundwave looked to the direction they were heading. They were heading to a canyon-like area for some reason. As he hang upside-down from Airachnid's grip, the canyon walls grew much clearer from his perspective.

As they flew closer to a cave at the bottom of the cliff, Airachnid dropped him onto the ground and transformed back into her robot mode. She then gracefully landed back onto the ground while Soundwave hit the ground with a loud thud.

"I found you a new training partner!" Airachnid called out.

Soundwave had no idea who she was talking to, but he didn't want to look at who she was calling to. He then began hearing footsteps, and then someone stepped right on his face; the way he did to Airachnid when she tried to make all the Decepticons abandon Megatron and set course for Regulon Four. As the bot's foot came off of his face, he stared into the cold eyes of Slipstream. He tried to get up, but Airachnid had one of her feet on his chest.

"Soundwave, I'm pretty sure you met dear Slipstream here." Airachnid said with a smile on her face. Soundwave didn't say anything. He couldn't believe that Slipstream has befriended the pesky spider. "Do you notice anything different?" Airachnid asked, tilting her head at the Spymaster.

Soundwave looked up at Slipstream and immediately noticed that her eyes were more purple than red. There were also some purple flames emanating slightly from her servos. He thought it couldn't be, but it must've happened. There was no other explanation other than that Slipstream has dark energon in her spark chamber.

"Slipstream, prove that you can take over the Decepticons. Take care of 'Mr. I'm the Best Decepticon.' here." Airachnid ordered, taking her foot off of Soundwave's chest.

Slipstream immediately grabbed Soundwave's neck, and raised him up into the air. She then extended her claws with no hesitation at all. Quick and clean, Slipstream dug her claws into Soundwave's spark chamber. Soundwave silently gasped as pain shot in his chest. Slipstream quickly pulled her servo out of his chest, and stared at her claws covered in Soundwave's energon. She then gave him a small kiss on her visor, and she released his grip. Soundwave fell straight onto the ground with a pool of energon beginning to form.

Soundwave silently groaned as he stared up into Slipstream's optics. His visions then faded away as Slipstream crouched down to look at him in pure sadness and worry.


	10. Chapter 10

Airachnid walked towards Slipstream, and crouched down so they could be on equal ground. "Is there something wrong, Slipstream?" she asked, hiding her suspicion well with a small smile on her face.

"It's nothing, Airachnid." Slipstream softly replied, not daring to stare into Airachnid's cold eyes. She stood up and looked at Soundwave's limp body, and crossed her arms. "What are we going to do with him?" she asked blankly.

Airachnid looked up to the sky, and chuckled softly, "We better not let the Decepticons miss poor Soundwave. We should return him back home." She maniacally laughed, and transformed into her alt mode. "Go ahead and take Soundwave with you. Then follow me." Airachnid added and hovered up into the air, waiting for Slipstream.

Slipstream glanced back at Soundwave's leaking body. She transformed into her alt mode, and quickly picked him up. She then followed Airachnid to where Soundwave was found. "Soundwave, I'm sorry." Slipstream muttered in sadness.

"What did you say?" Airachnid abruptly asked as she flew a little closer to Slipstream.

"It must've been the wind." Slipstream replied.

"Of course…" Airachnid murmured, and flew just a little faster to the direction of where she captured Soundwave.

Slipstream quickly followed the spider-bot until she heard a shrieking sound coming from behind her. She quickly turned around, wondering what could've made the sound. "What was that?" she asked in astonishment.

Airachnid hovered in one place and turned around to look behind her. "It must've been the wind." she muttered, repeating Slipstream's words a minute ago. She flew to Slipstream's side, and looked across the blanket of clouds. The ominous shrieking then became much louder than before. Airachnid gasped, and flew backwards a little.

Something bulky then tackled Airachnid in mid-air, almost making her fall through the blanket of clouds. Airachnid looked up at the thing that attacked her and gasped. She was locking eyes with a three insecticons! She glanced at Slipstream and quickly retreated into the clouds, leaving Slipstream with the insecticons.

The insecticons didn't even bother to go after Airachnid. The one they wanted was Slipstream. They immediately flew straight towards Slipstream, mashing their bloodthirsty fangs together. Slipstream quickly dodged their attack, and fired at one insecticon. The insecticon flew back a little, but her attack was too blunt to penetrate its metal hide. The two other insecticons then shoved Slipstream at her right side. Slipstream transformed back into her robot mode, struggling to hang on to Soundwave while fending off the insecticons. The insecticon she fired at swiped at her with its metal claws. Slipstream barely dodged the attacks because Soundwave was dragging her down. She fired once again at the insecticons, but she missed them. The three insecticons then successfully clawed her servo, making her leak energon heavily. Slipstream couldn't bear the pain in her servo, and accidently let go of Soundwave. One insecticon quickly grabbed Soundwave in mid-air, and glanced back at Slipstream. It shrieked at her, and led the two other insecticons away. Slipstream's optics glowed an even brighter shade of purple, and immediately followed them. With no hesitation, she used her long claws to stab the insecticon carrying Soundwave in the spark chamber. Now, the dark energon was _truly_ taking over her body. The insecticon shrieked in pain and let go of Soundwave. The other insecticons hissed at each other and flew away from Slipstream, leaving without a trace.

Slipstream transformed into her alt mode and dived down to grab Soundwave. As she neared him, she transformed into her robot mode and grabbed Soundwave by his servo. She quickly pulled up, keeping herself from falling through the clouds. She sighed in relief to herself, and slowly flew through the blanket of clouds and looked around the canyons for a place to hide. She flew close to the ground, making sure to not attract any attention.

Slipstream was also looking for Airachnid. Little did she know that the one she has accepted as a friend has left her for scrap. She transformed back into her robot mode and laid Soundwave down on the ground as she landed next to him. She stared at him in curiosity as another pool of energon began forming around him.

Suddenly, Soundwave grabbed Slipstream's neck, and he quickly sat up.

Slipstream gasped loudly, and struggled to pry his hand off her neck. Her optics then adopted the shade of color that resembled dark energon. She tried to swipe at Soundwave, but the Spymaster easily blocked her attacks.

Soundwave then quickly stood up and stared into Slipstream's purple optics. He then threw her down to the ground and then put one foot on her back. He wrapped his tentacles around her servos so she wouldn't be able to get up.

Slipstream slowly looked up at Soundwave in anger. She grunted as she tried to get out of Soundwave's strong grip. "You couldn't possibly murder one of your allies!" she hissed with a maniacal grin on her face.

Soundwave lifted Slipstream up, making her gasp in astonishment. He then deliberately reached into her spark chamber and took out the shard of energon lodged next to her spark. Slipstream gasped loudly, and closed her optics immediately. He then slowly unwrapped Slipstream's servos, and carefully placed her down onto the ground. He then gazed at Slipstream's limp body in sympathy; he couldn't bear to see Slipstream like that. He put one hand on the deep wound on his chest, and looked at the energon now on his fingers. He clenched his fists suddenly in anger.

Slipstream slowly got up, and stared at Soundwave in pain. She held the servo that was swiped at by the insecticons, and softly sniffed as her optics began leaking. She then softly began to speak to him, "Soundwave, I could barely remember anything at all! All the things I could remember was Airachnid stabbing me in the spark chamber with dark energon. It was extremely difficult for me to control my own body for even a minute or two. I am so sorr"-

Soundwave suddenly used one of his tentacles to hit her in the face. He quickly got up and knocked Slipstream across the clearing with the side of his servo.

As Slipstream got up, she looked at Soundwave's visor in fear. She could easily tell he was locking onto her. "Soundwave, what are you doing?" she asked in astonishment.

Soundwave said nothing. Soundwave extended a tentacle at her and wrapped around one of her servos. He then suddenly pulled his tentacle back, and severed her servo from her body.

Slipstream gasped loudly as she stared at her servo. She backed away, daring not to attack him. "Soundwave, please don't!" she pleaded in pure fear.

Soundwave looked at Slipstream's severed servo that was still wrapped up by his tentacle. He then threw the servo back to Slipstream, hitting her at her feet. He then walked away from her silently, looking around for Lazerbeak.

Slipstream slowly got up in fear. She picked up her severed servo, and leaked energon from her optics. She stood up and peered across the clearing to the glowing shard of energon. She walked up to the shard, and picked it up. She keenly looked at it; she already made up her mind on what she was going to do with it. She immediately stabbed her spark chamber with the shard, and her body glowed purple once again. She growled to herself, and looked to the direction where Soundwave disappeared. _Let him enjoy his last days, _she thought and transformed into her alt mode. She then flew off, disappearing into the blanket of clouds above.

* * *

Soundwave found Lazerbeak tattered and broken. He picked the drone up and Lazerbeak's port wing nearly fell off, only still connected to its body by a wire. Soundwave looked down at Lazerbeak in sadness. Then, his circuits filled with anger. _She will pay for this, _he thought and transformed into his alt mode, and flew off.


	11. Chapter 11

_**Author's Note:**__ Sorry for my sudden absence! The computer I was typing on received a virus and I had to go and get it fixed up. I promise I didn't abandon this story or anything, and I never plan to. Anyway, on with the story!_

_In this chapter, there will be a suggestion of interfacing, so...Warning, I guess...?_

* * *

As Soundwave flew around Jasper, Nevada in his alt mode, he discovered an energon trail as he flew close to the ground. He transformed back into his robot mode and stared at the leaked energon. He crouched down and dipped a finger into the stream and observed the energon. _The trail is fresh, _Soundwave thought and stood back up to follow the trail. As he followed the trail carefully, he watched as the small stream of energon grew wider and wider until the trail became a pool with a familiar bot in the center of the liquid. Soundwave fixed his posture as astonishment filled his circuits. He then thought, _Starscream!_

The Seeker slowly looked up as he covered the deep wounds on his chest with his hand. He gasped in shock and quickly sat up. "Soundwave, what are you doing here?" he asked in astonishment, his voice frail.

Soundwave said nothing, but he stared at Starscream's deep wounds that went straight through his body. He was surprised that Starscream was still able to speak clearly.

"My injuries are none of your business!" Starscream hissed and tried to claw at Soundwave, but his body kept him from doing so. He looked down to the energon-covered ground and grumbled to himself. As he slowly raised his head, he noticed that Soundwave's drone that was attached to his chest was nearly torn apart. "What happened to Lazerbeak?" he had to ask as curiosity got the best of him.

Soundwave immediately ejected Lazerbeak from his chest. He stared at his drone, watching Lazerbeak's circuits release sparks of electricity. He then looked back to Starscream.

"Who could've gotten to Lazerbeak so easily?" Starscream asked, looking as if he knew the true answer. A smirk slighty appeared on his face.

Soundwave showed an image of Slipstream on his visor to Starscream. He clenched his fists as he looked at the picture of Slipstream.

"I can't believe you would actually accuse Slipstream for something so devious. Of course, she is a part of me, so I would understand where she gets all that evil, but I don't think she would do that to her comrades." Starscream explained. Then, an evil grin appeared on his face, "Especially when it comes to her loved ones."

Soundwave shook his head at the Seeker vigorously. He then played back a piece of Starscream's statements, "But I don't think she would do that to her comrades."

"What are you saying? She's not your comrade?" Starscream asked in curiosity, "But you two have been alone for a few days already! Who know's what you two have been doing for the days you have been together?"

Soundwave stared at Starscream in disguist. The look that he gave to the Seeker immediately told Starscream that Slipstream could be predictable sometimes, but not _that_ predictable. Not wishing to spend even more time listening to Starscream rave about Slipstream's alone time with Soundwave, the Spymaster quickly got Lazerbeak back onto his chest and walked off.

Starscream gasped in worry and tried to stand up, but his wounds kept him down. He reached a servo out to Soundwave. "You can't leave me here to die! I am your commander!" Starscream hissed in frustration. He couldn't stand to see one of the cons he used to command abandon him at his time of need.

Soundwave extended his tentacles at Starscream without turning around to look at him. The tentacles stopped right at Starscream's face, making the Seeker squeal in fear.

Starscream quickly covered his face with his servos in shock. As he fearfully peered at the tentacles, he looked back to Soundwave. "I…I actually meant to say that I _was_ your commander." Starscream corrected himself, "But that doesn't give you the right to leave me here! I need help here! I…I have an offer for you!"

Soundwave looked back at Starscream immediately. Curiosity began to overtake his processors. He slowly walked back to the Seeker, wondering what the offering was. His mind was filled with suspicion as well as curiosity.

Starscream gave Soundwave a smirk and chuckled to himself. He then took out something from behind him. In his hands was a metal disk with a blue center. He looked up to Soundwave with a grin on his face. "I'm sure you know what this is. Megatron must've told you." Starscream assumed.

Soundwave knew exactly what the disk in Starscream's hands was; it was the legendary Apex Armor. He remembered the day when he returned to the Nemesis with the Resonance Blaster. Megatron said something about Dreadwing losing the Apex Armor to Starscream. Soundwave never thought Starscream actually had the armor. He stared at the intense glowing center of the disk.

"I see you are familiar with this armor." Starscream clenched his fists then spread his fingers apart, "You know, Soundwave, we can destroy the Autobots with this armor. We will receive high praise from Lord Megatron and gain his trust! We can easily succeed Megatron and lead the Decepticons back to the Golden Age! What do you say, Soundwave? Will you help me on my mission?"

Starscream's offer was convincing, considering it has been an extremely long time since the two factions have been in peace. But, the thing that made Soundwave disagree with the Seeker was that Megatron would be succeeded by Starscream. He blankly shook his head, not wanting to deal with Starscream's foolish acts any longer.

Starscream pondered for a few seconds and then locked optics with Soundwave. "You can also avenge Lazerbeak and rip Slipstream's spark out with the Apex Armor." He explained with a friendly smile on his face.

Soundwave paused for a moment, thinking it over. A moment of silence swept by as Starscream waited patiently for the Spymaster's answer. After a minute, Soundwave looked back at Starscream and then nodded one time at the Seeker.

Starscream's crimson optics brightened in happiness. He smirked at Soundwave and then struggled to get back onto his feet. His head suddenly jerked his head up to the sky. He grumbled to himself as a screech shattered the silent air.

An orange and white jet appeared from the blanket of clouds and the jet transformed into an exact replica of Starscream (besides the color scheme). Soundwave and Starscream knew exactly who it was: Sunstorm.

Starscream clenched his fists in anger as Sunstorm landed beside him. "What are you doing here?" he hissed in frustration.

"I'm here to look for you, oh wise Starscream." Sunstorm answered and bowed to the Seeker.

"I see you are still a suck-up as before." Starscream muttered, crossing his arms and looked away from the orange Seeker.

"And I am honored to have that piece of your personality." Sunstorm happily replied, his optics glittering.

Soundwave looked at Sunstorm in astonishment. _Sunstorm is just one of the clones. He must know where the others are, _he thought and stared at the orange Seeker, giving Sunstorm all he needed to know so he could answer the question.

"The other clones? They're all flying around the area for Lord Starscream and Slipstream." Sunstorm answered with a blank expression.

"_L-Lord_ Starscream?" Starscream murmured in astonishment.

Soundwave completely ignored Starscream and looked at Sunstorm. He then played back the last words Sunstorm said, "And Slipstream."

"Yeah, we're looking for her. She disappeared all of sudden while the other clones were in recharge and I was out patrolling the area." Sunstorm explained blankly.

Soundwave remembered that Slipstream said Starscream offered her freedom if she contributed to his plans. She must've ditched her brethren to join Starscream. But Sunstorm was patrolling the area, so he must've heard Slipstream fly away. He played back a piece of Sunstorm's sentence, "I was out patrolling the area."

"Well, you know how Slipstream is. She is…Miraculously different." Sunstorm explained with a smile on his face.

Soundwave sighed to himself and turned to look at Starscream, but when he looked to the direction of the Seeker, he was nowhere to be seen. He looked around, looking for Starscream. He then looked back to Sunstorm.

"Well, it looks like Starscream has enough strength to look for Slipstream himself. He is such a brave Decepticon!" Sunstorm sighed in happiness. He then locked eyes with Soundwave, "May I help you on your quest to look for Slipstream. It is obvious you are looking for her by the questions you are sending me."

Soundwave looked in the center of the pool of energon and noticed the Apex Armor disk was just lying there. He vigorously shook his head at Sunstorm, trying to get the Seeker to leave.

"You'll need all the help you can get, oh great and powerful Soundwave. I shall help you find my sister!" Sunstorm bowed to Soundwave and smiled at Soundwave.

_I'm slagged, _Soundwave thought and told himself to bear with Sunstorm following him everywhere. While Sunstorm was looking away, Soundwave quickly picked up the Apex Armor, wondering where Starscream went to. But, he couldn't think about it in peace since Sunstorm was always breathing down his neck and praising him every nano-klick. But little did he know that the bootlicking Starscream clone would actually prove to be useful.


	12. Chapter 12

_**Author note:**__ I just loved doing the Starscream clones for this. There's no end to any conversation when you're talking to all the clones. I kind of wonder how Slipstream deals with the other clones when they are all ridiculous in a good way. I think I made Skywarp too much of a coward in this chapter. Oh well! This chapter is more about the Starscream clones instead of Soundwave or Slipstream._

* * *

In a few minutes, five F-16 Fighting Falcons flew over Sunstorm and Soundwave. The blue-violet jet dived closer to the ground and quickly transformed into his robot mode. He gave Sunstorm a scorching-hot glare and hissed at the clone, "What happened to you? No one is allowed to leave my side; especially when I'm the rightful leader!"

"Thundercracker, I'm the one in charge around here! So I make the decisions!" Ramjet objected, crossing his arms and shooting the blue-violet Starscream clone a cold stare.

"No you aren't! I am the only one worthy enough to lead you cyber-glitches!" Thundercracker countered back and locked optics with Ramjet. They both glared at each other with a moment of silence trailing behind them. Then, Thundercracker broke the silence with a sharp cry, "I am the leader! You cannot stop me! Starscream isn't here, so that makes me the leader! I would even murder you to make my point clear!"

"Please stop fighting! It's too scary for me to handle!" Skywarp squeaked as he quickly hid behind Dirge. His wing struts shook vigorously as he cupped his face with his hands.

"Get away from me or I'll rip out the spark that is not yours, but mine!" Dirge screeched as he turned around to look at Skywarp. He pushed the purple clone towards Ramjet with extreme force. Skywarp then began to shiver in fear as he locked eyes with the grey Seeker.

"Oh, Skywarp, you know I will never hurt you!" Ramjet calmly explained and transformed his servo into a handgun and pointed it towards Skywarp.

The purple Seeker squeaked in fear and cupped his face with his hands once again. "Don't hurt me!" he screamed.

"It would _never_ hurt anyone like you, Skywarp." Ramjet murmured with a smirk on his face as he transformed his handgun back into his servo. He then turned back to Sunstorm. "Sunstorm, I will destroy you if you tell us why you're here. You know how much I hate hearing your excuses." he commanded to the orange Seeker with a smirk on his face.

"I highly appreciate your lies, oh great Ramjet." Sunstorm said as he bowed to the grey Seeker, "I found Starscream here with the mighty Soundwave here. But, our great leader fled the scene after a few minutes I came here."

"What are you talking about? I'm the leader!" Ramjet hissed.

"No, I am the one who should be leader. I have all the strength and intelligence of the not-so-powerful Starscream!" Thundercracker shrieked as he glared into Ramjet's crimson optics. They locked optics once again in a "battle."

Soon, Thrust entered the useless conversation with a shrill edge in his voice, "Thundercracker, you have to face facts and accept that you have no skills whatsoever. You are as weak as a little sparkling! Listen to my words of wisdom! Get off your lazy aft and stab yourself with some dark energon; because you're not going to be as powerful as Megatron if you just sit around and get into a fight with Ramjet every solar-cycle! Then when you're all strong enough, we can go and obliterate Optimus Prime for Megatron's sake!"

Thundercracker quickly turned around to look at the red Seeker. He firmly gripped Thrust's neck and screamed into his audio sensors, "Shut up! You fail in comparison to the power I possess! I am too good for dark energon, so leave me alone!" He then let go of Thrust's neck and gave the red Seeker an intense glare.

"Well, I have you know that you are the one who should be leader. I am the one not worthy of leading the Starscream clones_ or_ the Decepticons. I am terribly sorry." Ramjet sighed with a smirk on his face.

Unfortunately, Dirge joined the conversation with an edge in his voice. "The Starscream clones and the Decepticons are all going to be mine!" he hissed at Thundercracker and Ramjet.

Soundwave silently watched the clones debate on who was going to lead their group. He wasn't all that annoyed of their arugement. But, he _did_ begin to be when Skywarp kept on tugging on his servos and whimpered in fear. He jerked his head towards the cowardice Starscream clone, striking fear into the purple Seeker's spark.

Skywarp squealed as he gazed into Soundwave's dark visor and he quickly tackled Thundercracker to the ground, his optics leaking. "Save me!" he weeped and he hugged the blue-violet Seeker tightly.

"You're not worthy to hug me!" Thundercracker scoffed in frustration and easily pulled Skywarp off of him. He then dropped the purple Seeker to the ground and then turned to Soundwave. "You are an inferior, but I suppose you can help me in my quest to relocate Starscream and Slipstream. Do you know anything that I somehow don't know of about their whereabouts?" he blankly asked.

Soundwave reminded himself of the Apex Armor Starscream accidently or purposely left behind. He then began to fight with his conscious if he should tell the Starscream clones. _They are unpredictable, _one part of him thought. _Tell them about the armor! They will help you find Slipstream, _another part of him thought. Soundwave looked into Thundercracker's optics and displayed an image of the Apex Armor and Starscream to him.

"Starscream has the Apex Armor?" Thundercracker gasped in astonishment. His optics widened as he wondered what his creator would do with that kind of Iacon relic. _He could destroy everything with that armor. He can also make me look like a wimp! I can't have that, _Thundercracker thought.

But, his thoughts were simply pushed aside by Dirge. "That Apex Armor is supposed to be _mine!"_ he muttered and crossed his arms as he looked at the images on Soundwave's visor.

Thundercracker just ignored Dirge's comment and stared at Soundwave. "You have my permission to help us out on finding Starscream." he said to the Spymaster and turned his back to him. He then put his servos behind his back as if he was an official leader of the Decepticons.

Soundwave quickly took the Apex Armor and Starscream images off his visor and showed Thundercracker and the Starscream clones an image of Slipstream.

"It's the great and beautiful Slipstream!" Sunstorm murmured with an awkward smile on his face.

"I would love for you to go on and on about how amazing she is, Sunstorm." Ramjet replied to Sunstorm with an edge in his voice.

Thundercracker turned around to look at Soundwave's visor. He looked up at the sky, pondering for a brief moment. He then looked back at Soundwave. "Yes, Slipstream has been missing for a while now without my permission. I have been looking for Slipstream, but to no avail. So we figured to look for Starscream- who obviously fails in comparison to me –for some help in our quest." Thundercracker explained, clenching his fists and unclenching them like Starscream.

Skywarp was mumbling something from behind Thundercracker, but his words weren't able to be heard due to his fear of Soundwave.

"So, are you going to drag your aft out of the mud and help us locate Starscream and Slipstream? Or will I have to whip your afterburner to make you do so?" Thrust asked since Skywarp didn't have the guts to do so.

_She will pay for Lazerbeak, _Soundwave thought and gave Thrust a single and gentle nod.

"He's my partner!" Dirge cried, forming a thumbs-up with his hand and then he pointed towards him with a confident expression on his face.

"I love your confidence, Dirge." Sunstorm murmured with a small smile on his face.

"Why don't we just keep talking about Dirge's confidence and forget about Starscream and Slipstream." Ramjet said with a smirk on his face and he turned his head towards Thundercracker, expecting something to come out of his audial sensors.

But instead, it was somehow Thrust who replied to Ramjet before Thundercracker. "Well, if everyone would stop daydreaming, we can start our trek for Starscream. But there's one problem, cyber-glitch; we don't have a lead!" he hissed at Ramjet with his crimson optics glowing intensely.

"Thrust is right…For once. We don't have a lead." Thundercracker explained, "You guys can't just rely on luck like Sunstorm." He then gave the orange Seeker a mild glance, remembering that Sunstorm luckily found where Starscream was.

Soundwave then remembered that Starscream was leaking energon. With his visor, he could detect where energon are; whether it's in a solid state or a liquid state. He opened up a map of the area and discovered several pools of energon leading away from the pool Starscream left behind along with the Apex Armor.

The Starscream clones must've known what Soundwave was up to because they all nodded to Soundwave in confidence.

"Alright, all we have to do is let wonderful Soundwave be our guide to finding Starscream. Excellent!" Sunstorm explained happily with a cheerful grin on his face.

Soundwave looked at the trail of energon on the map once again and began following the energon pools. He then slightly looked down to the ground, lost in thought. _Did I make the right choice helping these clones? Did I even make the right choice in attacking Slipstream? _he thought. But when Thundercracker caught up to him silently, he figured that his path has already been laid out and he has to follow it no matter what; there wasn't turning back from these clones anymore.

* * *

_**Author Note:** Did I make Sunstorm seem like he wants to date his brothers? Did I make Thundercracker possess Starscream's dream of becoming leader? Did I make Ramjet a nuesence? I hope I portrayed the clones good enough. For me, it's kind of hard to do Thrust because I didn't see him on TFA. Pleae leave a review saying how good the clones are in this chapter!_


	13. Chapter 13

Slipstream looked down from the cliff she was standing on. Below her were a few pools of energon underneath a still and lonely, tall oak tree. She sighed to herself, thinking of what to do next. First, she was going to find Airachnid. And then, she was going to find Soundwave. Slipstream looked back at the energon, wondering who was leaking. She dropped off the edge of the cliff and walked towards the small pool. She dipped a finger into the liquid, trying to figure out if it was fresh or not.

A maniacal chuckle ran in Slipstream's audio sensors. The Seeker immediately looked around her position and she transformed one of her servos into a handgun. She then pointed her handgun around her in caution. A loud snapping of a tree branch reached Slipstream, making her even more cautious of her surroundings. "Show yourself." Slipstream commanded in anger.

Slipstream's optics widened as she gazed into a pair of intense purple optics. She immediately fired at the owner of the optics without even thinking who it was. Her attack caused smoke to fill the air, blocking the sense of sight for everyone in the area.

As the smoke slowly vanished and cleared up the environment, the tree that the pool of energon was sitting under began to creak, sending wood splinters flying across the clearing. There was a single a chopping noise and then the tall tree began to wobble slowly. The tree toppled off its base and then began to fall towards the direction of Slipstream. The Seeker deliberately rolled away from where the tree was going to fall. The tree touched the ground with a massive thud, sending dust into the air.

Slipstream closed her optics shut, preventing the dust from blocking her view. A few moments later, she slowly reopened her optics and looked around the area. She sighed to herself, telling herself not to become paranoid of anything.

But her thought didn't last long. A strong web wrapped Around Slipstream's upper-body and the Seeker immediately toppled to the ground with a soft thud. She groaned, struggling to get loose but to no avail. The strange web was far too dense for her to break.

"You look so helpless when you're stuck in this kind of situations." a voice from behind Slipstream said.

Slipstream squirmed around; she was trying to look behind her, but the sticky web prevented her from doing so. She just gave the voice a low growl instead of shooting it a cold stare.

A familiar pincer carefully grabbed ahold of Slipstream's face. The pincer then caressed the Seeker's cheek for some odd reason. Then, a pair of purple optics stared into Slipstream's optics. "Long time no see." the bot said calmly.

"Airachind!" Slipstream hissed, venom oozing from her words.

Airachnid chuckled at Slipstream. "I see you survived the attack from the Insecticons." she said to the Seeker with a small smirk on her face.

Slipstream growled loudly at Airachnid as her optics adopted the intense shade of purple that meant dark energon was beginning to steal her willpower away. She then struggled even more to get loose from the web. Every now and then, she shot Airachnid a scorching-hot glare.

"Slipstream, it's quite alright to trust me still. The Insecticon attack was just a test to see if you would survive an encounter with beings as powerful as them. And you passed, so stop your whining." Airachnid explained softly.

"A test? I do not need tests that ridiculous!" Slipstream roared in frustration. The dark energon embedded in her spark chamber began making her rip through the web. She pushed against the web with her servos, nearly splitting it in half.

Airachnid quickly used her pincers to grab ahold of Slipstream's feet and made the Seeker dangle upside-down. She then spun her around a few times, spreading a several web layers around Slipstream's body while leaving the Seeker's head exposed, creating her into a cocoon. "It's not right to try to obliterate your master and friend." Airachnid sighed with a blank expression. She then dropped Slipstream to the ground as she finished creating a cocoon for the Seeker.

Slipstream's optics grew even more intense; purple flames began to emanate from her pupils. She gazed into Airachnid's optics, biting her lip in irritation. "You are _not_ my master! _No one_ controls the power of dark energon!" she hissed and struggled even more against the web layers surrounding her.

"If you won't play _my_ games, then I won't play yours either." Airachnid snapped and then began dragging Slipstream across the clearing by her exposed feet. Never did she look back at the Seeker to see if she was alright.

Slipstream's head was hit several times by a few rocks and boulders. Her flaming optics glowered at Airachnid in anger, but the spider-bot seemed like she didn't even care about her. Slipstream growled to herself, wishing to rip Airachind's spark out of its chamber. But something kept her from squirming around once again to try to get to the spider-bot. Half of her said to not attack if she knows what's best for her, but the other half told her to do what she must to get revenge. She closed her optics shut as her head pounded while half of her conscience bickered with the other half. Slipstream _very_ slowly fell into a rough stasis nap, almost forgetting that she was captured by Airachnid.

* * *

Slipstream immediately woke up when something sharp left a stinging wound on her face. Purple energon leaked from her injury and Airachnid quickly caught a few drops with a pincer. The spider-bot then lapped up the energon off of her pincer with a devious grin on her face. "Good morning." she whispered into Slipstream's audio sensors as she finished off the dark energon on her pincer, "I thought I would just give you a small present before I trade you in."

"Trade me in? What am I, a walking pile of scrap?" Slipstream scoffed as she tried to claw out of her web cocoon. She hissed loudly as her strength barely made a dent in her coffin. After a few minutes of battling against the impenetrable cocoon, she quickly stopped to catch her breath.

Airachnid maniacally chuckled at Slipstream and leaned a tad bit closer to Slipstream's face. She fingered the cut on her face with a pincer. With a quick move of Airachnid's pincer, it scraped deeper into Slipstream's wound, letting more dark energon flow out.

Slipstream gave off a shrill cry as pain pierced her face. She could feel that her cheek that was cut was damp with her own energon. She noticed her vision beginning to fail; she groaned in agony as Airachnid kept on leaving cuts in her metal alloy.

"Airachnid, do you _have_ to torture our guest?" a familiar voice came from behind Airachnid.

The spider-bot stopped torturing poor Slipstream and quickly looked behind her. Her optics brightened immediately, and she gave the familiar figures a smirk. "Come out of the shadows, Starscream and Knockout. You do not want to keep your…Guest waiting." Airachnid greeted with a pleasant tone in her voice.

Starscream and Knockout slowly stepped out of the almost pitch-black shadows. The Seeker gave Slipstream a maniacal smile and walked up to her wrapped-up body. "I never thought I would see you again. You know, when you left me on that crashed Decepticon ship." Starscream hissed with an edge in his voice.

All of Slipstream's willpower was immediately drained away and replaced with the blood of Unicron. She hissed into Starscream's audio sensors, bearing her fangs at the Seeker.

Starscream gave Slipstream a wicked chuckle. "I _would_ get you out of those bindings, but you obviously want to murder me." he sighed, "Perhaps the doctor can fix that." He then turned towards Knockout, who was had a smirk on his face.

Knockout transformed one of his servos into a saw blade. "I'm not afraid to gut you like how those humans do with fish. Now, tell us where he is." he ordered as his blade began to spin energetically.

"Who's _he?"_ Slipstream had to ask as her optics burned with her goal of murdering the three bots surrounding her as she lay on the ground helplessly. She obviously hated being in the state she was in; the feeling of their energon running down her servo was beginning to overwhelm her.

Starscream softly gasped in astonishment, "W-What? Y-You _know_ who we are talking about! We _all _know you know where he is! Don't act like you have no idea what we are speaking of!" He clenched his fists as fury was beginning to engulf his circuits.

"Sorry to break it to you, pal, but I have no idea what you're talking about." Slipstream snapped as her pulsating purple optics were beginning to obtain their fiery look.

Starscream groaned in frustration. He then quickly picked up Slipstream by her neck and glared into her glowing optics. He immediately snapped in irritation, "We are talking about Soundwave, you fool! I never thought you would actually forget that bot"-

Knockout looked at Starscream, wondering what made the Seeker pause. He then followed where Starscream's optics were looking at. He followed them to Slipstream's own optics. He vaguely remembered that the female Seeker's optics were…Different before. He just couldn't lay a finger on what was different.

Starscream soon shot quiet Airachnid a sheathing glower. Anger rushed into his body like the energon within his systems. He dropped Slipstream to the ground and marched off towards the spider-bot. "I never paid you to induce her with dark energon! That is the reason why she won't answer these questions that are extremely important to Knockout and me!" he hissed in frustration. He was about to punch Airachnid in the face, until the spider-bot easily blocked his attack with the side of her servo.

"Honestly, Starscream, you are so dramatic. You make it sound like it's a bad thing." Airachnid calmly sighed to him.

"I do not mean to intrude, but it is a bad thing, Airachnid! She won't be able to provide us the information we need to hunt Soundwave down!" Knockout explained with a distinct look on his face.

"She can provide you information that can benefit the Decepticons even more." Airachnid said to Knockout, giving him a gentle wink. She then walked up to Slipstream and raised her up into the air. "Slipstream has something devastating within her." Airachnid said to the two mechs behind her. She then turned towards them, "She has the blood of Unicron in her systems."

"So?" Knockout had to ask.

"Do you two remember what happened to Lord Megatron before he ventured off to find Unicron?" Airachnid asked with an edge in her voice.

"Well, I do. I don't know about Starscream here." Knockout answered, giving the Seeker next to him a maniacal glance.

"Shut up!" Starscream hissed, knowing what Knockout meant; he wasn't on the Nemesis at the time, _or _even the Decepticons.

"_Anyway,"_ Airachnid snapped, getting the two mechs' attentions immediately, "Megatron was able to know what was going on in Unicron's head because he had dark energon inside him. So, that means Slipstream can do the same."

"She can listen to Unicron's thoughts." Starscream realized instantly. He then looked at Slipstream.

"Indeed, but she can do much more than hearing his thoughts. She can contact him." Airachnid smirked at the two bots, "She can tell Unicron anything she wants. And all we have to do is bribe her."

"Bribe Slipstream with what, exactly?" Knockout asked in curiosity.

"Bots tend to get…Addicted to the dark energon quickly. All we have to do is bribe her with the blood of Unicron, and she'll obey us. I guarantee it." Airachnid answered, smiling.

"But there's no dark energon left on Earth except…" Starscream's words trailed away as he thought of the one spot on the planet where Megatron found dark energon, "the volcano where Unicron's spirit resides."

"So, we're going to meet the Chaos-Bringer ourselves?" Knockout asked in astonishment. Never in his life had he thought he would actually meet the bane of the AllSpark, Unicron.

"Exactly." Airachnid maniacally chuckled to the red Decepticon.

Slipstream was lying on the ground, motionless. She was listening to their conversation. A tear rushed down her face as she silently whimpered in sorrow. _I'm sorry, Soundwave, _she thought before being dragged away by Starscream and Knockout.


	14. Chapter 14

_**Author Note:**__ The other chapters before this might've been dark, but this chapter kind of gets a little darker than the rest. But, I did have fun writing this one! Rated T for a reason! :3_

* * *

"Mine!" Dirge cried as he took notice of a puddle of energon on the ground. He dashed towards the liquid and dropped to his knees to look more closely to the precious fluid. Soundwave and the other Starscream clones followed close behind him.

Skywarp slowly poked his head from behind Thrust. His wing struts shook a few times before he opened his mouth to speak. "It's…It's from…" he whispered as fear began to seep into his metal alloy. His optics widened, revealing his terror to everybody.

"It's definitely not from Starscream." Ramjet finished Skywarp's sentence, "Perhaps a squirrel accidently drank from an Energon Cube and coughed it up." He crossed his arms and looked into the trees surrounding him, as if he was looking for one of those furry organics he was speaking of.

"He has the processors _of_ a squirrel." Thrust murmured into Soundwave's audio sensors. The smile on his face quickly turned into a frown when he noticed that the Spymaster just ignored his comment. _Take a joke, will you? _Thrust thought.

Soundwave walked to Dirge's side and began examining the molecules in the energon. He easily discovered that the one who spilled the precious liquid was Starscream. He turned around to look towards Thundercracker, which ticked Ramjet off a little. He nodded to the blue-violet Seeker and revealed the map of the area onto his visor once again.

"So that overrated Decepticon is truly leaking from his wounds." Thundercracker softly cackled to himself. He then looked at Soundwave's visor, "I _did_ make a great choice on who would be our guide."

"Shut your audial sensors, Thundercracker! At this pace, we won't find Starscream _or_ Slipstream!" Thrust hissed at the blue-violet Seeker, clenching his fists in the process.

"Please go on, Thrust. I'm sure everyone here wants to hear your ranting." Ramjet jeered with a look of boredom on his face. He raised a servo into the air, preparing to smack Thrust at the back of the head. Soundwave abruptly caught Ramjet's servo and gave the grey Seeker an emotionless glower. Ramjet rolled his optics as he sheathed his own servo back to his side.

Soundwave stared at Ramjet for a few seconds before walking off, following the energon readings on his visor. Thundercracker was the first to follow him; the rest of the clones quickly followed behind them, Ramjet in last. Soundwave looked down frequently, watching the pools of energon pass by.

Sunstorm quickened his pace so he could fall into step beside Soundwave. "I highly appreciate what you are doing for my wonderful brethren." he whispered into Soundwave's audio sensors with a friendly grin on his face; not something you would see Starscream do in stellar-cycles.

Soundwave glanced at Sunstorm, but then swiveled his head back to the pools of energon appearing on the horizon every now and then. He had no reason to stop his search so he could listen to Sunstorm's babbling of how amazing he was.

Sunstorm continued on smiling, oblivious to the clues Soundwave was leaving so he could shut up. "I would be honored if you would answer the question that is in my mind. You won't regret answering it!" he said, almost sounding like he was pleading to the Spymaster for him to answer the question.

Soundwave sighed in his head, wondering when the Seeker's constant talks would finally end. He glanced back at Sunstorm and vacillated for a moment. He was questioning himself if he would regret answering Sunstorm's question or not. The orange Seeker's wide and curious crimson optics didn't help on the Spymaster's decision, either. _I already lost my place in the Decepticon ranks and Slipstream. What more could I lose? _Soundwave thought. He then nodded one time to the orange Seeker.

Sunstorm bowed to the Spymaster repeatedly. "Thank you!" he cleared his throat, "Why aren't you with the powerful Lord Megatron? Instead, you're trying to find the great and elegant Slipstream." He tilted his head in curiosity, slightly revealing some puppy-dog optics to Soundwave.

Soundwave instantaneously turned his head back towards Sunstorm. He wasn't prepared to answer that question at all. To be honest, he had no idea why he's using his time searching for Slipstream instead of searching for the Nemesis and clearing his name. Something just made him do so; he just couldn't put his finger on what it was. He felt like he was trapped for some odd reason. His vision faded into blackness as his visor darkened into nothingness.

He could vaguely see Slipstream right in front of him. He was about to reach out a servo, until Slipstream gave off a shrill cry. Spilled energon splattered across the pitch-black ground, dyeing the floor blue. Slipstream's optics glazed over, and her body shattered into several miniature fragments of glass. As the fragments plummeted to the ground, a violet smoke rose from Slipstream's remains. The darkness surrounding Soundwave gave off a maniacal cackle and the fragments of Slipstream drifted into the air towards the ominous smoke. The fragments were constructing something…Something that vaguely resembled a face. A few seconds later, Soundwave stepped back in astonishment as the fragments revealed the face of Unicron. The Chaos Bringer evilly snickered as flames began to engulf Soundwave's body. The Spymaster desperately tried to escape the tornado of flames, but he was restrained by something invisible. He looked up into the air to see the ghost of Slipstream.

_Soundwave…Soundwave…_

The Spymaster watched as the walls of fire engulfed the innocent ghost, giving off an ear-piercing scream in the process. Soundwave closed his optics as he looked down; he had no idea what was going on. As he reopened his optics, the first thing he saw was Unicron standing before him. He watched as the Chaos Bringer raised his servo and instantly jabbed an energon-covered sword into Soundwave's spark chamber, releasing wisps of smoke that gave off ominous shrieks from Soundwave's visor. The Spymaster silently screamed as Unicron easily tore out his circuitry, his energon dripping into the fire surrounding him, fueling the hungry flames. He was about to fall to the ground into his own energon until he finally snapped back into reality.

"Soundwave, I would highly appreciate it if I am allowed to ask if you are alright." Sunstorm asked in confusion as he stared into the Spymaster's blank visor.

Soundwave instantaneously fully awoken and he stared back at the orange Seeker. He slowly nodded as he regained his breath. Never before had he encountered an event like that. He was confused, curious, and…Frightened. He was beginning to think what it must've meant. Slipstream's death was only one of the things he was worrying about. He was wondering why Unicron was in his vision. _It can't be, _he thought.

"Ok then," Sunstorm said beside Soundwave, "Are you alright?"

Soundwave looked up at the orange Seeker, locking optics with him. He stood up correctly and looked at the Starscream clones that were looking at him in confusion. He looked at each clone, looking at the expression on their face. He then turned around towards the small energon trail and quickened his pace, following the pool of energon while looking at the map on his visor.

Ramjet followed right behind Soundwave, followed by Thundercracker. He grabbed the Spymaster's shoulder, getting Soundwave's attention, but the silent Decepticon kept on walking. "What's going on? I'm supposed to take point!" Ramjet retorted with an edge in his voice.

Soundwave completely ignored Ramjet and quickened his pace even more. Thundercracker and Ramjet looked at each other and shrugged as they quickened their paces as well. Sunstorm and Dirge followed right behind the two Seekers. And Thrust was dragging Skywarp across the ground, muttering Cybertronian curses to the cowardice Starscream clone.

"Soundwave, tell me why you're leaving us in the dust, or I will throw Skywarp right at your aft!" Thrust hissed, struggling to squirm out of Skywarp's tight grip on his foot.

Soundwave stopped in his tracks, and extended his tentacles. The tentacles made a U-turn towards Thrust's head. They attached to the sides of Thrust's head, immediately sending Soundwave's thoughts into the Seeker's processors. As Soundwave's tentacles retreated back into his chest, Thrust's optics brightened in astonishment. The Seeker then fell into silence as he looked at Soundwave in sympathy.

The other Starscream clones glanced at Soundwave and Thrust, wondering what Thrust was told. Everyone except Thrust and Skywarp looked at Soundwave, eager to know as well. Soundwave extended his tentacles at Thundercracker, Sunstorm, and Ramjet, sending them his thoughts into their processors.

"Well that's stupid." Ramjet muttered in boredom as Soundwave's tentacles vanished into the Spymaster's chestpiece.

"So another bot just joined the party." Thundercracker murmured with a smirk on his face. He then shot Soundwave a miniscule smile on his face, "You know what they say these days: Thundercracker superior, Unicron inferior."

Soundwave glanced at Thundercracker and then turned away, following the energon trail. He looked at the map on his visor and began noticing two energon readings far away from the pools of energon they were following. Soundwave swiveled his head towards the energon readings, but then the readings disappeared as he looked to their direction. He waited a few seconds before returning to following the pools of leaked energon that were leading towards a fallen oak tree.

As Soundwave and the Starscream clones passed by the fallen oak tree, a pair of white optics emanated from the shadows, watching the group walk off. The optics glowered straight at Soundwave and their owner began standing up from the shadows.

A pincer quickly grabbed the bot's servo, tugging him back into the darkness. "We aren't allowed to kill them!" the femme next to the white optics softly hissed, "But you know the drill. Right, Makeshift?"

"Of course." Makeshift answered, and his armor began to shift around. His body began to transform into a much slimmer figure with crimson optics glowing through the shadows.

"Now go and reunite with lonely Soundwave." the femme softly commanded and watched Makeshift silently escape the shadows and follow Soundwave and the Starscream clones. She then began to snicker as she her glowing optics disappeared into the darkness.

* * *

_**Author Note:**__ Yup, I made Makeshift survive that explosion in Transformers Prime! I hated to see the guy die, so I wanted to make him return for another round! Go kick some aft, Makeshift, before you die again!_


	15. Chapter 15

_**Author Note:**__ Prepare for some major Knockout and Slipstream fluff! The fluff includes: getting drunk and almost interfacing. Fun, right? Soundwave would have your head, Slipstream! Anyway, this was not supposed to be one of **those** chapters, but it came out like that! Sorry if you have read this chapter and you felt unsatisfied, but I kind of wanted to have Slipstream cheat on Soundwave in some way. On with the...Unusual chapter!_

* * *

Slipstream's optics slowly regained their usual crimson color as she woke up from stasis. She looked around, only seeing darkness around her. She tried to stretch out her servos, but her body was restrained by something. She squinted, trying to focus on her surroundings. A few seconds later, her optics widened when she figured out that she was surrounded by some sticky walls of web. Her optics began to adopt their purple hue once again. She growled to herself, struggling to contain the anger boiling inside her. She tried to roll over to her left, but the bonds on her were keeping her from doing so. The dark energon inside her was once again draining away her willpower. She gave off an ear-piercing shriek, and she began thrashing around inside the web cocoon.

After she stopped to catch her breath, a lurid whirring sound could be heard from outside the web cocoon. Slipstream's optics widened as the sound went through her audio sensors. Her optics returned to their usual red color, and she began to wonder what could be creating that ominous noise. She didn't dare to move again, fearing what could be at the other side of the web walls. Slipstream was suddenly temporarily blinded by a flash of light. Something grabbed her shoulder and pulled her out of the cocoon. Slipstream quickly regained her vision; but she wished she didn't. She was locking optics with the one and only Knockout.

Knockout transformed his free servo out of the form of a saw blade and back into his normal hand. He tilted his head and gave Slipstream a smirk. He then carefully placed her down onto the ground right next to the web cocoon he cut open. He slowly moved his face closer to Slipstream's. "Rise and shine." Knockout whispered into Slipstream's audio sensors in a seductive way. He then began to gently stroke Slipstream's cheek.

"_Knockout,"_ Starscream hissed from behind Slipstream, "Do _not_ flirt with our captives!" He marched to the red Decepticon's side, and yanked him away from the female Seeker. He shot Knockout an intense glower before looking towards Slipstream. "Like what my 'partner' said, rise and shine." Starscream said, still not over Knockout's act.

Slipstream's words were replaced with a low snarl. She glared at Starscream, gaining the urge to rip the smile that was beginning to form on his face. Starscream rolled his optics, and walked a little closer to her. Slipstream immediately kicked at Starscream's feet, her optics regaining their purple color.

Starscream suddenly looked intrigued as he stared into her optics. He smirked at Slipstream, and turned to look at Knockout. "Where is Airachnid? She should be here by now!" he snarled at the red Decepticon, clenching and unclenching his fists.

"She went to give Makeshift a head-start." Knockout answered, "She said she would be back soon."

"_No!"_ Starscream snapped in anger, "She should be here now! We're almost to the volcano, and she hasn't returned with Soundwave's head! Makeshift doesn't need someone to hold his hand everywhere he goes!"

Slipstream's optics brightened in curiosity as Starscream finished speaking. Her wings slightly shot up as she gave the Seeker a suspicious look. _"Wait!_ Just hold on for a nano-klik! Did you just say, 'She hasn't returned with _Soundwave's head?'"_ she asked as suspicion began to fill her processors.

Starscream and Knockout both turned to face Slipstream. They glanced at each other, wondering what to do. Starscream gave the female Seeker a friendly smile as he looked back towards her. "Oh, do you still have feelings for poor Soundwave?" he asked as his optics began to glitter.

"_What?_ No!" Slipstream lied as her optics lost their purple hue. She was beginning to think of the Spymaster even more now. Her optics obviously showed her embarrassment, which was beginning to intrigue Knockout because of the grin growing on his face.

Starscream rolled his optics, and turned towards Knockout with an irritated expression on his face. "Stay here with Slipstream. I'll go and try to locate Airachnid. I will say this only once; do not try anything you will regret in the future." he hissed, venom oozing from his words. He then walked off, muttering Cybertronian curses because of his missing T-Cog.

As he fully disappeared, Knockout rolled his optics, and he quickly locked Slipstream's servos together with stasis cuffs. He then got up and paced around while twirling his battle spear into the air. Every now and then, he glanced back at Slipstream with a flirty expression on his face. But whenever he did so, she softly growled back at him with anger emanating from her optics. He stopped in his tracks, and turned to the female Seeker. "Be lucky you're still alive. Any of us could've killed you right where you are sitting." Knockout growled.

"I would rather have died." Slipstream scoffed, staring at the red Decepticon. She shifted her feet through the dirt, wishing to be capable of stretching out her servos. She looked down to the ground, avoiding Knockout's intense gaze.

"Loosen up, hot shot." Knockout sighed with a miniature smile on his face, "Look, you won't get anywhere if you don't obey Starscream and me! You have to face facts!" He clenched his fists as he planted his battle spear into the soil below his stabilizing servos.

Slipstream's optics began to dim drastically. She softly groaned as her servos began to weaken. She slowly looked up at the red Decepticon standing before her. She could easily taste the dryness on her tongue.

Knockout tilted his head, and gave Slipstream a charming expression on his face. "Aww! Does cute little Slipstream need to fuel up on energon?" he asked, vaguely winking to the female Seeker.

Slipstream gazed into Knockout's optics. Her body pleaded for energon. Either dark energon, high-grade energon or regular energon; anything that could quench her thirst. She eagerly nodded to the red Decepticon, struggling to escape from the stasis cuffs.

Knockout looked up at the sky, and sighed. "Unfortunately, that son of a glitch known as Starscream only has high-grade energon for some reason." He then quickly turned his head towards the female Seeker behind him.

"I don't care!" Slipstream hissed as her thirst began to overcome her, "Just give me some energon!"

"You're a feisty one." Knockout murmured with a grin on his face. A few seconds later, he took out a high-grade energon cube, and handed it out to Slipstream. Because of the Seeker was restrained, he was the one to help her drink from the cube.

Slipstream eagerly lapped up the energon. She could feel her body regaining strength. After a few laps of energon, she could already feel herself returning to her normal state. However, she wanted more. Once she finished the energon cube, she glared into Knockout's optics. "Hit me again." she demanded.

Knockout looked at her in astonishment, but the surprise on his face quickly diminished and replaced with a grin. He took out two energon cubes, and gave one to Slipstream. He then drank from the other cube. "Savor every single sip, Slipstream. You never know when it's your last one." he murmured to Slipstream, and took another sip of energon.

"Y…Yeah right." Slipstream replied to Knockout, finishing her sentence with a soft hiccup.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Slipstream finished her thirty-fifth energon cube. She hiccupped softly once again, and Knockout smiled at her. She looked towards the red Decepticon immediately. "Want to play a game?" she asked, which sounded more of a command than a question.

"I would do _anything_ for a femme like you." Knockout answered as he dunked a half-filled energon cube onto him. He opened his mouth as the liquid plummeted straight towards the ground, catching a few drops of the fuel.

"Alright," Slipstream replied with a smirk on her face, "Let's play the Dead Nervous Game." She crawled up to Knockout's side. She then began stroking the mech's chest with her delicate hand. She gazed into his optics with a devious smile on her face. After a minute, she then asked, "Are you nervous?"

"No." Knockout whispered into Slipstream's audio sensors. Slipstream then got on top of him, and began licking the energon that drenched him a minute ago off his neck and face. Knockout gave the female Seeker a small grin as Slipstream smiled back at him. He stroked Slipstream's face, and was about to kiss Slipstream on her lips, until a shrill voice emanated from behind him.

"_Knockout!"_ Starscream hissed in frustration, "What did I say when I left you in charge of our captive?" He marched towards the red Decepticon, and pried Slipstream off of Knockout. He gave the female Seeker a cold stare, but Slipstream glared back.

"What's the big deal? It looks like Airachnid isn't with you, anyway." Knockout countered Starscream's words.

Starscream rolled his optics, and showed the head of Soundwave to Knockout and Slipstream.

* * *

_**Author Note:**__ What? Soundwave has been decapitated? Well, the answers to that ending will be told in the next chapter! The next chapter will take place at the same time with this chapter, but with Starscream and the Starscream clones instead of Slipstream, Knockout, and Starscream._


	16. Chapter 16

Thundercracker stopped in his tracks, making Soundwave and the other Starscream clones stop as well. He looked around him with a suspicious look on his face. "There's something wrong." he whispered to the bots following him.

Soundwave slowly walked up to Thundercracker. He watched as the blue-violet Seeker paced around in circles, lost in thought.

The leaves on the trees began to rustle loudly, which got the attention of no one else but Skywarp. The Seeker's wing struts began to shake as he swiveled his head towards the noise. He frantically tapped his finger onto Dirge's shoulder. "D-Did you hear that?" Skywarp asked, paranoia quickly filling his circuits.

Dirge turned his head towards the cowardice Starscream clone, growling to himself in the process. "Whatever it was, it will be mine once I succeed Lord Megatron." he muttered into Skywarp's audio sensors. He then walked off, leaving Skywarp behind as the others walked closer to Soundwave and Thundercracker.

A soft clash of metal immediately startled Skywarp. He squeaked in fear as he frantically looked around him, wondering what could have created that ominous sound. He scurried towards Thrust with a worried look on his face as he tapped the Seeker's shoulder. "D-Did you h-hear _that?"_ Skywarp asked, his wing struts beginning to shake vigorously.

"Would you just shut up for once?" Thrust hissed as he turned his head towards the scared mech. He then walked off towards Soundwave and Thundercracker.

Skywarp quickly followed Thrust, becomine paranoid on what could be hiding in the darkness. Something suddenly gripped his shoulder tightly, and he screamed as he became frozen in one place. He didn't dare to look around, fearing the worst could be right behind him.

"Skywarp, it's me!" a feminine voice came from behind the scared Seeker.

Skywarp looked behind him, staring into the optics of Slipstream. "This can't be! This must be a hoax!" he squeaked as his circuits became filled with terror.

Soundwave immediately looked towards the direction of Skywarp. He silently gasped as he caught sight of Slipstream. He quickly walked over to her with a surprised expression on his face, which was hidden away by his visor. He couldn't believe what he was looking at.

Slipstream gave Soundwave a friendly smile, and her optics quickly lit up. "It's nice to see you again, Soundwave." she whispered to the Spymaster, and gave him an amorous hug. Soundwave looked down at Slipstream in curiosity. He had no idea what to do after that. He was astonished to see Slipstream once again. He was looking for her, and yet here she was out in the open. He was about to hug Slipstream back until Ramjet piped up from the silence that blanketed the clearing.

"What a bore." Ramjet muttered as he gave off a loud yawn.

Slipstream softly growled as Ramjet finished his sentence. She shot the grey Seeker a menacing glare, bearing her teeth at him. "Shut up, Ramjet! Why do you have to be so uncaring?" Slipstream hissed in antagonism. She marched up to him, having a staring contest with the mech.

_She knows he's kidding, right? _Soundwave thought as he watched Slipstream rage at Ramjet. He looked at Sunstorm, who just shrugged back at him.

Like what a leader would do, Thundercracker immediately stepped in between Ramjet and Slipstream. "Decepticons, Decepticons! Can't we all just get along?" the blue-violet Seeker asked. _I should've said that as a command instead of a question. They would obey commands instead of questions, _he thought with a frown growing on his face.

"What is wrong with you guys?" Slipstream asked as she turned around to look at Thundercracker. She clenched and unclenched her fists just like Starscream.

"Actually, what's wrong with _you?"_ Thrust growled to Slipstream, giving her a scowl as he crossed his servos.

"You _are_ the smartest one of all of us. We would respectfully think that you would know that our dearest Ramjet here is an impressive liar." Sunstorm added, weakly smiling at Slipstream.

Slipstream's optics vaguely widened, but then she gave the orange Seeker a friendly grin. "I _know_ that, Sunstorm. I just want to try something new for a change." she explained softly, crossing her servos. She then walked towards Soundwave once again. "How come you guys are here?" she asked, tilting her head slightly.

"I have been helping these peasants look for you and Starscream. They should be bowing before me right now, however." Thundercracker answered, glancing at the Starscream clones behind him.

"Well, here I am!" Slipstream cried with a gentle grin on her face, "I missed you all so much!" She turned to look at each Starscream clone with a friendly expression.

Soundwave glowered at the femme. She was different physically and mentally. Her optics are white, but the last time they met, her optics were red. And she had a sassy nature; not a friendly one. There was something wrong with Slipstream, and yet the clones weren't doing anything. He stepped forward, getting Slipstream's attention immediately.

She turned to look at the Spymaster in confusion. "Are you ok?" Slipstream asked, uncrossing her servos.

Soundwave extended a tentacle at her. It gently sliced through the air, and stopped right at Slipstream's face. It stared at the female Seeker, as if it had optics of its own.

Slipstream bit her lip, watching the tentacle look at her in suspicion. "Is there something you have to say?" she asked as frustration began to fill her circuits, but she easily hid it from the Spymaster.

Soundwave replayed Slipstream's sentence to her immediately, "Is there something you have to say?"

"_What_ are you talking about? There's nothing I'm hiding!" Slipstream hissed as the energon inside her began to boil. She clenched her fists as he gave the Spymaster an intense scowl.

The tentacle immediately grabbed Slipstream's servo, and pulled her much closer to Soundwave. She glared into his optics, and struggled to get loose of the tentacles' grip. "Get _away_ from me, you son of a glitch!" she screeched in frustration, "I thought you trusted me!" She extended her claws, and slashed at the tentacle that had a tight grip on her servo. The tentacle immediately withdrew back to Soundwave as a decent cut on it began to drip energon.

"He would _never_ trust someone like you." Ramjet yawned, rolling his optics at Slipstream.

She growled at the grey Seeker, and transformed her servo into a handgun. She then pointed the gun towards Ramjet, giving off a shrill snicker. She fired at the grey Seeker, aiming for the mech's spark chamber. Soundwave quickly extended his tentacle towards Ramjet, and narrowly blocked Slipstream's attack.

Ramjet looked up to Soundwave, and rolled his optics. "You could've done better than that." he muttered.

Slipstream transformed her handgun back into a servo, and put her hands on her hips. "What's so special about Ramjet, Soundwave? I can be a liar as well. Soundwave, Slipstream loves you with all her spark." she said to Soundwave with a smirk on her face. She then transformed her servo back into a handgun, and began shooting at the Spymaster.

Soundwave extended his tentacles towards Slipstream, easily dodging her attacks. The tentacles quickly wrapped around Slipstream's servos, preventing her from shooting at him. It then snapped Slipstream's servos out of their normal position, making the female Seeker unable to move her servos.

Slipstream glared at Soundwave, but also snickering. "Let's take a little group photo for the scrapbook. The caption can be: Soundwave murders his girlfriend." she softly chuckled.

Soundwave glowered at her, and let go of Slipstream's servos. The female Seeker immediately transformed into an F-16 Fighting Falcon, beginning to fly away. Soundwave silently cursed in his head, and released his tentacles at her, but she was too fast. He watched as the imposter fly off.

From behind him, someone transformed their servo, and shot at Slipstream. The shot went straight towards the female Seeker, knocking her out of the air and down to the ground. She hit the ground with a loud thud before transforming back into a robot. She lied on the ground, breathing heavily as her circuitry was beginning to give off puffs of smoke.

Soundwave turned around to see Sunstorm with his servo as a handgun. He happily nodded to the orange Seeker, who bowed to him in return. He walked over to the fallen imposter, glaring at her from behind his visor.

Slipstream then began to transform back into the form of Makeshift. As the transformation was finished, he snickered at Soundwave with a devious grin on his face. "Go ahead and kill me. My work here is done." He murmured.

Soundwave immediately extended a tentacle at him, gripping his spark chamber. He was beginning to transfer data into Makeshift.

The shape-shifter gasped as he began to transform into another bot. He looked at his changing servos, and gasped as he was beginning to obtain Soundwave's servos. As the transformation finished, he glared at the real Soundwave, standing up to leave a scar on him. Before Makeshift could've dealt any damage, Soundwave quickly and deliberately sliced off Makeshift's head with his tentacles. The Soundwave head dropped to the real Soundwave's feet, and he picked it up.

"So, what are we going to do, oh honorable gladiator?" Sunstorm asked to the Spymaster as he transformed his servo back into its normal form.

Soundwave said nothing to Sunstorm, but he knew what he was going to do. He dropped the head onto the ground, and wedged it into the soil with his feet. He then looked back to the Starscream clones and gestured to them to follow. As the Starscream clones began following him while wondering why Soundwave left the Soundwave head on the ground, Soundwave walked off in a deep thought. _Slipstream I will save you, _he thought.

About thirty minutes later, Starscream walked out of the shadows, looking around for Makeshift or Airachnid. His optics looked directly at the Soundwave head with a content smirk on his face. _Good work, Makeshift, _he thought, and picked up the head. With the object in his possession, he walked off so he could tell Knockout about the great news.


	17. Chapter 17

_**Author Note:**__ There will be mentions of interfacing in this chapter, so warning! :P_

* * *

Slipstream opened up her optics slowly, having no memories from the entire day at all. Up in the sky was the beautiful moon, which told her that a few hours have already passed. She yawned loudly and she sat up on the ground. She tried to stretch out her servos, but she was restrained by stasis cuffs. She struggled to get loose, but she had no strength to even stand up. She closer her optics, wondering what had happened to her.

"Good evening." Starscream called out as he appeared from the shadows, "I hope you had a nice stasis nap, because you kept me up for hours!" He clenched his fists and gave Slipstream an irritated scowl.

Slipstream tilted her head in confusion. She had no idea what he was talking about. "What do you mean?" she asked in curiosity.

Starscream looked back at her in astonishment. He turned his body towards her. "How could you _not _know?" he then paused, understanding why she had no clue, _"Oh,_ I remember. You were drunk."

Slipstream's optics widened in surprise. "I _was?"_ she then shook her head at Starscream, "I would _never _do such a thing like that!" She glared into his red optics, sending him an eagerness for a challenge.

Starscream shook his head back at the female Seeker. "Does it _really_ matter that you drank too much high-grade energon? You have no idea what you did during the hours you have been tipsy, either!" he clenched and unclenched his fists, staring at his hands.

"I…Guess." Slipstream muttered, looking down at the ground, "Th…Then tell me what happened!" She clenched and unclenched her fists, just like Starscream.

"I'd rather not. It would probably ruin your innocent little mind." Starscream snickered, gazing into Slipstream's crimson optics. He then turned his back towards her, crossing his servos in the process.

"Ruin my innocent little mind?" Slipstream growled, still lost in confusion.

"You know what I'm talking about." Starscream turned his head back to Slipstream, and glanced towards Knockout, who was sleeping peacefully underneath an oak tree.

Slipstream immediately stopped talking. She looked away from the Seeker in embarrassment and blushed, making Starscream softly cackle at her.

A black helicopter soon flew into the clearing and hovered for a while. The helicopter then transformed into Airachnid, who immediately scurried towards Starscream after her spider legs folded onto her back. She glared at the Seeker, her optics glowing intensely. "You better be happy, Starscream, because your pathetic plan cost Makeshift his life!" Airachnid hissed, struggling to keep her servo from punching him in the face.

"He did what he was told to do. He killed Soundwave and left his victim's head for me to retrieve. His death wasn't in vain." Starscream explained to the spider-bot, glancing back at her with a devious smile on his face.

"_His death wasn't in vain, was it?_ And you said you retrieved _Soundwave's _head? How foolish _are_ you!" Airachnid snapped as the energon inside her began to boil. She clenched her fists, trying to keep her from attacking the mech.

"This head couldn't be Thundercracker or Ramjet! It _has_ to be Soundwave!" Starscream groaned in annoyance. He raised his servo to show Airachnid the Soundwave head.

"I saw the fight with my own optics! Soundwave walked away from the battle nearly unscarred! It was Makeshift who was decapitated!" Airachnid jeered, bearing her teeth at the Seeker in front of her.

Starscream looked at Airachnid with a curious look. He looked down at the head in his hand, and looked back at the spider-bot. Now that he paid more attention to the head, he could see some parts of the face resembling Makeshift. He groaned in anger and threw the Makeshift head across the clearing in irritation. "It's your fault!" Starscream hissed at Airachnid, gripping the femme's neck tightly, "If you haven't been so ignorant, then Makeshift would've survived with his claws drenched in Soundwave's energon!"

"Oh, so it's _my _fault? I wasn't the one who came up with an awful plan! Makeshift barely survived that explosion on the Nemesis. So letting him die is how you repay him? You're _so_ despicable!" Airachnid countered back, squeezing the servo that was gripping her neck.

Starscream groaned, and immediately released Airachnid. He then moved his face closer to the spider-bot's audio sensors. "We must leave for the volcano now. We cannot waste any time." he whispered, and walked away from the femme. He turned to Knockout, who was still sleeping soundly. "Knockout, get up! We're moving!" Starscream hissed at the red Decepticon.

Knockout immediately opened his optics. He looked at Starscream, and quickly sat up. He groaned as he put a hand behind his helm. "Primus, my head hurts." he muttered softly.

"Gee, I wonder why?" Starscream replied to Knockout with an ambiguous smile on his face. He then walked up to Slipstream and yanked her off the ground. "Would you get off your aft? Be thankful I'm letting you walk around instead of staying in a cocoon for the entire solar-cycle!" he snapped at the female Seeker.

Slipstream glowered at Starscream, but didn't want to anger him even more; she knew it would just make matters worse if she would tick the mech off. She just nodded once at him and walked off, her hands behind her back, still restrained by the stasis cuffs. She walked to Knockout's side, giving him an awkward grin.

Knockout looked up at her and tilted his head in curiosity. "What do you want?" he asked with an edge in his voice.

Slipstream slowly sat down next to him, trying to act normal with her restraints. "What is Starscream going to do at the volcano he has been talking about?" she asked with a curious look on her face.

Knockout sighed, "Sorry, kid, but I can't say anything about Starscream's plans." He yawned loudly, stretching out his servos.

Slipstream's optics began to obtain a purple hue once again. She quickly gripped Knockout's shoulder in irritation. "Tell me or you will face the wrath of dark energon!" she demanded in anger.

"Oh no! I'm being threatened by a femme with mystical powers! _Puh-lease!_ You don't scare Starscream, Airachnid, _or_ me. I don't think Soundwave has been frightened of you, either!" Knockout growled, rolling his optics at her.

"Who says I want to scare you?" Slipstream jeered, and she lightly slapped him at the back of the head, "All I want is to know what's going to happen."

Knockout grumbled something to himself before replying back to the femme next to him, "Persistent little glitch…"

"I'm sorry, but what was that?" Slipstream growled in Knockout's audio sensors, glaring into his red optics. She was about to sink her claws into the mech's neck, until he gave her a luscious smirk that made her optics slightly widen.

"What have you done for _me?"_ Knockout asked, his smirk slowly forming into a scowl.

Slipstream opened her mouth, but no words came out. She was thinking of _what she did_ for Knockout, but she chose not to tell him, and every single part of her processor agreed to her decision. She just groaned and shook her head back at the red Decepticon, trying to avoid looking into his optics.

"What's the matter? Is there some you're hiding?" Knockout asked with a devious grin on his face, making the female Seeker mutter Cybertronian curses to herself.

"The real question is: Are you hiding something from _me?"_ Slipstream hissed, pushing him away from her with a strong shove.

"Now, Slipstream, you don't have to get your turbines in a twist." Knockout explained, his optics slightly widening at her.

"Aren't we all in the same faction? Aren't we all comrades! Friends?" Slipstream asked with an innocent tone in her voice.

Knockout stuttered, not knowing what to say to her. He frantically looked down at the ground, trying to find the answer in his mind. Before he could open his mouth to speak, a blanket of spider-web wrapped Slipstream up tightly. The female Seeker struggled to get loose, trying to cut through her bonds.

Airachnid scurried towards her and began spinning her around by her feet, encasing Slipstream even more. "Try note to move a lot." the spider-bot explained, "You'll need all the energy you can get." After a few moments, she dropped the female Seeker onto the ground.

Slipstream hissed through the spider-web, her optics becoming purple and intensifying, but her glowing optics couldn't be seen through the cocoon. "Why are we going to a volcano? I deserve to know!" she hissed at Airachnid.

"Sorry, but we need to hurry. No time to ask questions." Airachnid answered with an obvious smirk on her face. She then turned to Starscream with a scowl on her face. "I'll go ahead to scope out the area." she explained to the mech.

Starscream had a suspicious look on his face. "I will not allow that. You will stay with us_ no matter what!"_ he growled into Airachnid's audio sensors.

"Let's move it, then!" Knockout retorted to the mech, and began walking off.

Starscream grumbled to himself, and began dragging Slipstream across the ground with no help from Airachnid or Knockout.

Slipstream woke up to see the grey sky instead of darkness. She slowly sat up, putting a hand on her helm as her head began to hurt for some reason. She cringed as her spark began to feel pain. She covered her audio sensors, trying to cope with the agony. She looked down at the ground to see where the cliff ended. She sluggishly looked down the edge to see an enormous boiling pool of dark energon. She immediately flinched as her spark began to hurt even more.

A large cloud of smoke rose up from the boiling energon. The smoke gradually formed a face that was familiar to only Slipstream. It cackled as he looked into Slipstream's purple optics. "Do you really think I would let you serve me because you have dark energon coursing through you?" it asked.

Slipstream's willpower was instantly drained away with only dark energon left in her processors. She looked up at the face with no fear. "Master, _please_ reconsider. I will do whatever you want." she pleaded, and bowed to the face.

The smoke covered her, and she could feel her processors being invaded by something. As the smoke cleared up from her body, the glowing optics emanating from the smoke narrowed towards Slipstream. "You have suffered a lot." it said, "If you wish to serve the true master of chaos, then bring me your lover's dead body. Then, I shall reconsider your fate." The smoke than disappeared as if it was never there.

Slipstream's optics never returned to their original red color. She looked around the area from the top of the volcano, and transformed into her alt mode. She then flew off, looking for her victim.

"See! Slipstream is now a heartless ragdoll. She is Unicron's slave now." Airachnid whispered to Starscream and Knockout with a devious grin on her face.

"Hm…Of course…" Knockout muttered with a weakly hidden frown on his face.


	18. Chapter 18

_**Author Note:**__ When I started this chapter, I kind of face-palmed because a lot of the chapters were just Soundwave tracking down Slipstream. So, we're almost at the end of his search for his love. You know, if you could call it that now._

* * *

Sunstorm panted, struggling to catch his breath. He stopped in his tracks, staring into Soundwave's visor. "May I have your grateful permission to take a worthwhile stasis nap?" he asked, sounding like he was pleading more than asking a question.

Soundwave turned towards the orange Seeker and looked at the other Starscream clones. Each one nodded eagerly except for Ramjet; he just crossed his servos and looked away. He nodded at each Seeker slowly. The clones immediately sat down with a loud sigh of relief.

As Ramjet sat down next to Thundercracker, he began grumbling something to himself, "I don't need a stasis nap. Naps are for the weak!" He then lied down on the ground as he closed his optics to fall into stasis.

Soundwave sat down as well, beginning to fall into recharge. He could see the moon at its highest peak, illuminating the nearly pitch-black night. He silently yawned, feeling the claws of stasis pulling him in. He quietly ejected Lazerbeak out of his chest, watching the weak drone flap its wings in agony. He gently stroked its wing, slightly calming it down. As he stroked Lazerbeak's other wing, it immediately fell to the ground with a soft thud. Soundwave flinched as the fallen metal wing scraped against his leg. Lazerbeak lazily flapped the wing that stayed attached. Soundwave looked down at the drone in sympathy as he picked up the fallen wing from the ground.

Dirge turned his head towards Soundwave's direction with a smirk on his face. "Mine." he quietly muttered to the Spymaster. He then lied down onto the ground, quickly falling into stasis.

Soundwave completely ignored Dirge's comment and gently placed Lazerbeak and its severed wing down onto the ground. He slowly lied down on the ground, beginning to fall into stasis as well as the Starscream clones around him. He closed his optics, letting the claws of sleep drag him into darkness.

_Be prepared, young bot. Your time will come soon. Master will come and find you. Then we can be together watching everyone burn._

Soundwave immediately opened up his optics and looked up at the blue sky. Tiny birds fluttered by, singing to each other in happiness. He slowly sat up, rubbing his helm. He looked at the sleeping Seekers around him, sighing in relief. He looked down at the ground to see how Lazerbeak was doing. His optics widened from behind his visor as he realized the mini-con was gone, leaving its wing on the ground. He immediately stood up, instantly alerting Thrust.

"What the frag is going on?" Thrust shrieked at Soundwave, raising his head from the ground. He quickly sat up, rubbing the back of his helm as he glowered at Soundwave, who was frantically searching the area for the missing drone.

Soundwave looked across the clearing, beginning to wonder where Lazerbeak could have gone. He knew that the drone couldn't have gone far because of its severed wing.

Sunstorm walked up to him with a weak smile on his face. "Is there any way I can serve you?" he asked with a curious tone in his voice.

Without turning to look at the orange Seeker, Soundwave showed Sunstorm the Lazerbeak wing briefly. He then looked up into the sky, wondering if there was a possible way for the drone to have flown away without being aerodynamic. Then, he remembered the ominous voice in his head that began speaking right before he fell into stasis. He was beginning to think if the one who was speaking was-

_No! It can't be,_ Soundwave thought, trying to block her out of his mind. He didn't want to think about her now. Finding his mini-con was his top priority right now. He began sending a signal to Lazerbeak for it to return from his visor. He patiently waited for the drone to return for a few minutes, but nothing came back to him. He pulled up a coordinates grid on his visor and tried to find Lazerbeak's energy signature, but to no avail. The mini-con was either offline or its energy signature was masked by something; neither of the possible outcomes made Soundwave calm down.

"Just let him do what he wants to do. It's not like he will ditch us for some stupid mini-con." Ramjet whispered into Skywarp's audio sensors.

"He…He's going to leave us…_Here?"_ Skywarp squeaked as his wing struts began to shake vigorously once again.

Soon, Soundwave could hear something hovering in one place. The leaves on the trees were roughly blown off the branches, gently plummeting to the ground at the feet of the Spymaster and the Starscream clones. Soundwave looked up into the sky, feeling the disrupted air current blow against his metal alloy.

The wind suddenly died off as the sound of a bot transforming could be vaguely heard. Soundwave placed a foot forward, wondering who that could've been. He slowly walked towards the trees to his right, cautiously listening to his surroundings. As he was at the edge of the shade under the trees, he could see curious-looking optics gazing into his visor. Soundwave stayed in one place, watching the glowing optics stare back at him. The thought of fleeing the scene didn't cross his mind for some reason. Something about the optics were making him feel intoxicated for some reason. He felt dizzy, his feet beginning to weaken. Before he could fall to the ground, something gently stroked his face.

"You have lovely features, Soundwave." a voice said to the Spymaster, "I see why Slipstream liked you." The glowing optics intensified, and a pincer grasped Soundwave's neck. The mech was then pulled up into the air and thrown out of the shadows.

Soundwave barely landed back onto his feet. He staggered back up, watching the spider-bot walk out of the shadows towards him.

Airachnid smirked at the Spymaster. She crossed her servos as she locked optics with him. "I still can't believe you're sticking around with these…Idiots." she murmured into Soundwave's audio sensors, glaring at each Starscream clone.

Soundwave silently extended a tentacle around to Airachnid's back, and quickly grabbed one of her pincers. He pulled her back, making her dig her heels into the ground. She hissed at Soundwave, trying to get her heels out of the dirt. She suddenly changed from being frustrated and murderous to calm and content. "By the way, Soundwave, are you missing something?" she asked with a devious grin on her face.

Soundwave stared into Airachnid's malevolent optics. He clenched his fists, thinking of his missing mini-con. He extended his tentacles back at her, aiming for her head. The femme easily blocked his attacks with the side of her servo. She snickered at the Spymaster, "I bet you miss your little pet, aren't you?"

Soundwave scowled at her from behind his visor. Every thought that wasn't related to Lazerbeak vanished from his processor. He felt his own servos move without telling them to. His willpower disappeared as the thought of ripping Airachnid's circuitry out of her body and watching her energon drip began clouding his mind. He kept on trying to slit the femme's throat with his tentacles, but she just kept on blocking his attacks.

"What's wrong, Soundwave? You're losing your touch." Airachnid sighed to the mech. She then quickly grabbed one of the tentacles, watching the hooks at the end vigorously spin around with an amused smile on her face.

Soundwave carefully observed the femme's expression. He tried to sheathe the tentacle that was in her hand, making her cackle. "Seriously, Soundwave, where are your famous battle moves? Weren't you a gladiator back on Cybertron?" Airachnid asked, tilting her head at him.

While she was speaking, Soundwave quietly let the other tentacle slither through the dirt beside Airachnid's feet. The tentacle then snaked around the femme's leg, slithering all the way towards her pincers. Airachnid gasped as she could feel it wrapping around her pincers. She struggled to break her pincers out of their restrains, but Soundwave was too strong compared to her. She growled at the mech, "Is that all you do now? Capture bots and not even leave a scar on them?"

She regretted saying that. Soundwave stared into her optics, and used the tentacle that was surrounding her pincers to pry her extra legs off of her back. Airachnid gasped in astonishment as pain pierced her back. She turned her head to look behind her, seeing her pincers severed from her. Energon dripped from the ends of the pincers, dripping onto the ground. She looked back at Soundwave with a depressed look on her face. "What a shame," her expression suddenly turned into a devious look, "I guess you'll never get this back." She then managed to raise her servo to show Soundwave the Apex Armor disk.

Soundwave stared at the disk, unintentionally loosening up the grip he had on Airachnid. He totally forgot about the Apex Armor! All his thoughts returned back into his processors. He began wondering what happened to him. His goal to find his precious mini-con overcame him, making him forget the "gift" Starscream left for him. He knew the Apex Armor was one-of-a-kind. He promised to himself that he would protect the armor from the Autobots for Lord Megatron's sake.

"Airachnid! What are you doing?" someone hissed.

Soundwave immediately turned around to see Slipstream coming out of the shadows. His optics widened from behind his visor, and he put a foot forward.

Slipstream transformed her servo into a handgun, and then pointed it towards the Spymaster. "Master must've known that you would be this close." she murmured to the mech in front of her. While keeping her gun locked on Soundwave, she helped get Airachnid off the ground.

Airachnid looked down at the Apex Armor in her hand. She then looked at Soundwave with a satisfied grin. "Let's go back to the volcano, Slipstream." she said to the femme next to her, "We don't want the Master waiting." She then quickly picked up her severed pincers, and disappeared into the shadows.

Soundwave stared into Slipstream, observing the dark energon clouding her optics. He gently extended a tentacle at her servo, as if wanting to tug her closer to him. But Slipstream just grabbed the tentacle that began wrapping around her servo, and shot at it with her handgun. She then saluted to him with a maniacle grin on her face, "See you around, cyber-glitch." She transformed into her alt-mode, and then flew off.

Soundwave watched her fly off. He slightly looked down to the ground, pondering for a moment.

Dirge walked up to Soundwave and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about her, Soundwave." he said to him, "She was mine anyway."

Sunstorm walked up to the other side of Soundwave with a gentle smile on his face. "We'll see her beautiful face again. I am highly sure of it."

Soundwave looked up at Sunstorm, and showed a coordinates grid to the orange Seeker. There was a blinking dot on the grid that was traveling away from them.

"You tracked her!" Sunstorm's optics suddenly glittered in happiness, "You're such an intelligent bot!"

Right after Sunstorm's words, puffs of smoke began to appear from the top of a mountain. Soundwave watched the smoke mix with the white clouds, darkening the sky. He remembered Airachnid saying something about a volcano. He then looked at the Starscream clones and looked back at the mountain. Now, Soundwave truly knows where they are.


	19. Chapter 19

_**Author Note:**__ There's going to be some slight Knockout and Slipstream fluff. You know, half of the time I write stuff containing fluff, I totally forget what "fluff" actually means._

* * *

Slipstream transformed into her robot mode and squarely landed on the ground. She stood up from her crouching position and looked down at the puffs of smoke emanating from the volcano's crater.

Soon, Airachnid walked up to her with an irritated grin on her face. "You could've picked me up and flew me here instead of letting me walk!" she hissed at the female Seeker.

Slipstream squared her shoulders as she turned to look at the spider-bot. "Well," she explained with an edge in her voice, "It's not my fault that you got your pincers ripped off." She then looked down to the crater of boiling lava with a devious grin on her face. She got onto her knees, and carefully leaned over the edge of the volcano.

Clouds of smoke blasted straight at Slipstream. She slightly cringed, but she kept her attention on the smoke instead of her safety. The smoke quickly transformed into a face that had a suspicious look on his face. "Where is Soundwave's body?" he asked.

"Well," Slipstream explained to the face of Unicron, "Slipstream got off the hook. But, we did get something"-

"_YOU'RE A FOOL!"_ Unicron shrieked at her, "You should never show mercy to the weak! Or is the reason _why_ you held back was because this bot made you look like an absolute _weakling?"_ Lava mixed with dark energon began to seep through the rocks below Slipstream's feet, threatening to engulf her in flames.

"But," Slipstream quickly cried as she avoided stepping onto the lava, "we brought you a gift!"

Unicron's optics slightly glowed in curiosity. "And what is this 'gift?'" he asked.

"It's the Apex Armor." Slipstream answered. She looked back at Airachnid, gesturing her to throw her the gift for Unicron. As the spider-bot carefully tossed the Apex Armor disk to her, Slipstream gave Unicron a maniacal grin. She showed the disk to the Chaos Bringer, careful not to drop it into the boiling lava.

Unicron observed the disk with a watchful optic. He suddenly glared at Slipstream, and the edge of the volcano began to crumble at Slipstream' feet into the pool of lava. Slipstream gasped and backed up from the crumbling edge. She looked up at Unicron with a surprised expression, "D-Did I do something wrong?"

"Of course you did!" Unicron hissed into Slipstream's audio sensors, "Did you_ really_ think you could bribe my trust with a foolish little trinket like _that?_ No one needs armor when their power can destroy the planet!"

Slipstream immediately dropped the Apex Armor at her feet. "Master, I live to serve you! Give me another chance to slay Soundwave!" she pleaded, and she got onto her knees, staring into Unicron's pulsating optics.

Unicron just growled at her, and the rocks underneath her feet crumbled down into the lava, dragging her into volcano in the process. His face suddenly vanished as the clouds of smoke floated up into the sky and towards the base of the volcano, never to return to the female Seeker.

Slipstream tumbled quickly towards the boiling lava. She could feel the heat emanating from the molten rock draining her energy. She quickly grabbed a rock wedged into the stone wall as the tips of her feet touched the surface of the bubbling lava. She winced as she felt unbearable pain at her feet. She then looked up with one hand barely hanging on to the wall. "Airachnid, pull me up!" she beckoned up to the volcano's edge.

Airachnid's head immediately appeared, menacingly gazing into Slipstream's optics. "Sorry, pal, but I have to run. I wish you the best of look with your master." she replied down to the female Seeker, and stood up. She then walked off, leaving Slipstream dangling above the pool of lava.

Slipstream looked back down to the molten rock. She could feel the stone wedge she was dangling from beginning to slip from the rock wall. Her optics widened, and she began to panic. Her spark beat drastically quickened as she began to feel her feet sinking into the scorching lava. Moments later, Slipstream quickly closed her optics as she began to feel the blazing heat emanating from the lava coming closer and closer. She felt the tips of her feet dipping into the molten rock.

"Hold on!" someone cried to her. Then, a hand quickly grasped Slipstream's servo. The female Seeker looked up to see Knockout holding onto her servo. His battle spear was wedged into the rock wall, keeping him from falling into the crater with her.

Slipstream's optics widened in astonishment. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Her hand began to shake as Knockout's grip began to loosen. She had a frightened expression on her face, making Knockout's grip loosen even more.

Knockout observed Slipstream's scared optics. He gave her a confident nod, and placed his feet onto miniature stable outcrops. He slowly pulled the female Seeker up closer to him, and began climbing up the rock wall with Slipstream hanging onto his servo.

Slipstream looked down at the boiling lava, observing the dark energon swirling through the lava. Her optics narrowed as she watched the surface of the lava beginning to seep closer to her. Her wing struts began to shake, and a confident smile appeared on Knockout's face.

"Don't worry, Slipstream. I'll get you out of here." Knockout explained to the female Seeker as he climbed a bit higher.

Slipstream's spark was beating fast still, but Knockout's tranquil words calmed her down. She nodded to the red Decepticon, trusting him to get her away from the destruction of the lava. Knockout climbed to a high outcrop, but the lava kept following them. He quickened his face, leaping to a much higher ledge. Slipstream's feet began to feel the intense heat of the molten rock once again, making her nervous. Knockout quickened his pace even more, barely dodging a rock that crumbled off the edge of the volcano's crater. He could see the edge of the cliff only a couple of feet away from him. He threw his battle spear onto the cliff, and began to pull Slipstream up to safety.

Slipstream looked down at the boiling lava, suddenly realizing that the volcano was going to erupt at any klik. She looked up at Knockout with worried optics. "L-Let's go!" she squeaked.

Knockout glanced down at the lava quickly reaching Slipstream's feet. With all his strength, he pulled himself up onto the cliff, and he leaned over the edge to look at the female Seeker. "Grab my hand!" he cried to her.

Slipstream looked down at the boiling lava. She could already feel the tremors coming from the volcano. She looked up at Knockout with a frightened and hesitant expression. She picked the worst time to think about the red Decepticon's loyalty.

Knockout growled, "Just grab on! You can trust me!" He reached out his servo even farther off the cliff. He was anxious to get the female Seeker to safety as lava began to drastically seep out and clouds of smoke began to fog up his vision.

Slipstream sighed to herself, and she reached for Knockout's hand. She quickly grabbed on, and Knockout pulled her up. As her feet felt the warm ground, she stumbled, and she fell into the red Decepticon's arms.

Knockout gasped as he watched the volcano erupt before his optics. Ash blanketed the area, clouding his vision. He could feel the lava running down the volcano's slope beside his feet, singing him in the process. With no hesitation, Slipstream buried her face into Knockout's chest, struggling to shield her face from the ash and lava. Knockout put his servos around her, protecting her slightly from the lava.

Minutes that felt more like years went by, and Knockout blinked his optics open. Everything was covered in ash. He immediately looked down at Slipstream. She was also covered in the ash that escaped from the volcano. He observed his servos, looking at his paintjob. "That slagging volcano just _had _to ruin my paintjob." he muttered unintentionally into Slipstream's audio sensors.

Slipstream softly giggled as she looked up at Knockout. Her face was clean, but the back of her head was fully covered in ash. "Thank you." she whispered into Knockout's audio sensors as her optics glowed.

Knockout hesitated for a moment, uncertain what to do. He slowly gave her an unsure hug. But that was enough for Slipstream, because she returned the hug. She wiped her cheek from the ash that just fell onto her, and she looked down at the volcano. "W-Where do you think Unicron went?" she asked in curiosity, her voice weak.

Knockout shrugged at her, "Who knows. Maybe he's off looking for revenge on Optimus Prime."

Suddenly, an extremely loud thud that sounded like a footstep echoed into their audio sensors. Slipstream's head turned to the direction of the sound with a glare on her face. "We have to go." she quickly explained to Knockout, and she got up.

Knockout stood up and followed her in confusion. "That sound could've been anything! It could've just been an aftershock from the eruption of the volcano!" his voice then trailed off, "Whatever an aftershock is."

"It wouldn't hurt to see what created that noise. When I fell into the volcano, I managed to catch a glimpse of Unicron traveling to the base of the volcano. He _must_ be somewhere near there." Slipstream explained with a harsh tone in her voice. She then slid off the volcano on a steep slope.

Knockout sighed to himself and rolled his optics. He then followed her down the volcano.

None of them knew what they were getting into.


	20. Chapter 20

_**Author Note:**__ Is it just me, or do I think Thundercracker is the sanest one of the Starscream clones besides Slipstream? Or am I just insane? :P Don't answer that…_

* * *

Skywarp gasped as the ground at his feet began to shake. He squeaked in fear, and he dropped to the ground as his wing struts began to shake vigorously once again.

"What is this nonsense?" Thrust asked, trying to keep himself stable on the ground.

"It must be an aftershock from that volcanic eruption earlier today." Thundercracker replied to Thrust.

Soundwave easily balanced himself while the Starscream clones looked as if they were trying to balance on a tightrope. _Why did Starscream even choose to wear heels? _Soundwave thought as he rolled his optics from behind his visor.

_I'm coming for you…_

The Spymaster immediately straightened up his back in astonishment. He looked around him, only seeing the Starscream clones looking at him in confusion.

"Is there something bugging you, Soundwave? Perhaps I can help you. It would be well worth the effort." Sunstorm gleefully smiled at him.

Soundwave completely ignored Sunstorm, and looked up into the grey sky. He watched an odd cloud of smoke go by as he strained to listen to his surroundings. That voice sounded vaguely familiar to him somehow. He knew he heard that exact voice before, but where? Perhaps he only heard a tidbit before- perhaps a laugh or two –but he was absolutely sure he heard it before.

Thundercracker walked up to Soundwave with a stern glare. "Come on, Soundwave! Will it make you tell us what the frag is going on if you have my permission?" he asked to the Spymaster as he crossed his servos.

Soundwave immediately refused. He turned his back to Thundercracker and walked off towards the volcano, watching the coordinates grid on his visor. The dot that represented Slipstream's energy signature suddenly vanished off the grid. His optics slightly widened in astonishment as he carefully looked at the map. Like Lazerbeak, Slipstream was either offline or her energy signature was masked by something. Now, he was even more determined to find her. He was about to make himself climb up the steep volcano side, until an ominous screech of metal scratching against each other echoed through his audio sensors. He cupped the side of his head, struggling to block out the ear-piercing sound.

The Starscream clones looked at each other in confusion. Thrust sighed to himself, and walked up to Soundwave's side. "What is wrong, you glitch?" he hissed at the Spymaster.

Soundwave slowly looked up at Thrust in confusion. The screech of metal was murdering his audio sensors. He had no idea how Thrust was bearing the shrill blare of metal rubbing against metal.

"Did you forget to defrag your hard drive or something?" Thrust asked with an edge in his voice.

The frequency of the sharp metal sound was shown on his visor.

"It's fragging quiet here, Soundwave. You must have received a glitch in your processors." Thrust murmured as he crossed his servos at the Spymaster, "Ha! It shouldn't be possible because you _are_ one. You must be imagining things. Whatever you're hallucinating about, it must be something stupid."

Thrust suddenly cupped the side of his head and crouched down to the ground. Soundwave turned his head towards him in curiosity. The shrill metal noise must've been affecting him as well. His visor suddenly darkened and his body went numb. His optics dulled and he felt as if his spark drifted elsewhere.

When Soundwave's vision returned to him, he was in an almost pitch-black area with a familiar pulsating crystal wedged into the ground. His legs made him walk towards the crystal and he crouched down. He slowly plucked it out of the ground and it began to glow, as if it had a spark of its own. Suddenly, the crystal shined brightly at Soundwave, temporarily blinding him. A few minutes later, he blinked his optics back to normal and noticed a pair of purple optics staring at him. The first thing that popped into his head was that it was Slipstream. He quickly stepped forward, wanting to know who it actually was.

The optics came closer to him every time Soundwave placed a foot forward. Soundwave quickly walked towards it and stared deeper into the bright hue of the optics that were right in front of his face. The optics suddenly transformed into a bloody red color and a mouthful of long sharp fangs roared at his visor.

Soundwave slightly flinched as a fang scraped against his visor. The creature that was trying to bite his face off paused for some strange reason and Soundwave's visor began to fog up because of its heavy breathing.

A strange lightning bolt cast right next to Soundwave, fully showing the creature's face for one second. Soundwave silently gasped in astonishment as he noticed that it was Ravage. He cautiously put a step forward, wondering what had happened to his treasured mini-con.

Ravage suddenly vanished into thin air and was replaced with a bot that looked familiar to Soundwave somehow. Purple optics glared at the Spymaster. "My minion has proved that she is a weakling! Perhaps you are a better minion? You must be better than my last minion. She showed mercy when it was not her top priority. Watch out, Soundwave, because you may be the only one still living. I _do not_ show mercy. Why do you think Ravage never returned on that mission he was sent on?" the bot snickered. Its pair of optics then quickly vanished into the darkness, leaving Soundwave standing in the shadows.

The Spymaster felt his spark travel back into his original body and he was staring into Sunstorm's optics. "Are you alright, Master Soundwave?" Sunstorm asked in confusion.

Soundwave raised his head higher a little, looking at the other Starscream clones. He quickly stood up and stared up at the top of the volcano. He paused for a moment, remembering the last words that mysterious voice said to him: _Watch out, Soundwave, because you may be the only one still living. I do not show mercy. Why do you think Ravage never returned on that mission he was sent on?_

He silently sighed as he began thinking of Ravage. But, that was not the only thing that was bugging him. It said "because you may be the only one still living." It was saying…That everyone will be killed except for him? What did this bot want with him? Had he done something that made him a target of some sort? Several questions pounded through his head.

Sunstorm scurried to Soundwave's side with a weak smile on his face. "Do you need a lovely recharge or something, Soundwave?" he asked in curiosity.

Soundwave looked back to Sunstorm and shook his head one time. He then went back to staring at the volcano gloomily. He couldn't bear to think of recharge when someone was sending him clues of the possibility of everyone's death.

"Just leave him be. He's probably not insane." Ramjet murmured to Thundercracker, Dirge, Thrust, and Skywarp.

"Ramjet, I don't like this." Skywarp whispered into the grey Seeker's audio sensors, his wing struts beginning to shake.

"Well, bear with it because no one cares about a glitch like you." Thrust hissed at the cowardice Starscream clone.

"Hey! He's _my_ glitch that no one cares about!" Dirge growled at Thrust with an angered look on his face.

Thundercracker silently face-palmed and walked towards Soundwave, trying to ignore Thrust and Dirge's argument. "Soundwave, what's bugging you? I- being the worthy leader –deserve to know what's going on with you." he sighed to the Spymaster in slight boredom.

Soundwave turned around to look at Thundercracker with a blank expression. If Soundwave couldn't depict who was talking in his head, then Thundercracker wouldn't be able to do it either. He just stood there motionless as he stared into the blue-violet Seeker's confused optics.

"Can someone fragging tell me where Skywarp went?" Thrust growled as he quickly looked around him for the cowardice Starscream clone.

Skywarp was gone; he was nowhere to be seen. Thundercracker's optics widened in astonishment. He turned to look at Thrust as he bit his lip. "What did you do to Skywarp?" he hissed.

"I didn't do anything to that stupid Seeker! It was like he vanished into thin air!" Thrust countered back with venom oozing from his words.

_Vanished…Into thin air…?_ Soundwave thought in astonishment. In his "dream" Ravage disappeared into thin air as well and was replaced with that ominous bot that was telling him about the death of everyone but him. He looked around him, looking for the missing Starscream clone. He looked on his visor and everyone was present except Skywarp. If he really did vanish, then where did he go? Wherever he went to, that bot must have him.

"He couldn't have flown away." Thundercracker murmured to himself as he looked up to think, "He couldn't have ran away either. That mech is too clumsy to sneak off somewhere without being caught in more than a nano-klik."

_He didn't sneak off somewhere. He was taken somewhere. By…A killer, _Soundwave thought as he stared into Thundercracker's red optics.

A menacing cackle broke the silence. Soundwave and the Starscream clones looked up to see a tarnished bot standing at the side of the volcano with Skywarp's body in one of its servos. He then grinned at the group and threw Skywarp's body to Soundwave's feet. "What's with all the weakness in everyone's circuitry? Can someone show me some power?" he cackled.

Soundwave quickly crouched down and looked at Skywarp's leaking body. The cowardice Starscream clone slowly opened up its optics and looked at the Spymaster. "H-Help…" Skywarp's optics glazed over and his body went limp as Soundwave felt Skywarp's spark die out.

Soundwave looked up at the tarnished bot and observed him with a careful optic. _It's Unicron._


	21. Chapter 21

_**Author Note:** Let's sing the Dramatic Song while you read this chapter! *Clears throat* A perfect translation does not exist. Well, at least, not in your language. But if you must know, well, picture this. 50 billion rainbows and the sun is setting. And the moon is setting also, and you're there in a gazebo. And then God descends from heaven. And he gives you a million dollars._

* * *

Slipstream skidded down to a small outcrop covered by trees on the volcano's side to see Unicron standing only yards away from her. She quickly noticed Soundwave and the Starscream clones standing right at the bottom of the volcano. She poked her head slightly out of the trees to yell at Soundwave, but Knockout quickly pulled her back into the shadows.

"It's too dangerous!" Knockout hissed into Slipstream's audio sensors with her servos in his hands.

"But," Slipstream growled to the red Decepticon, "I have to see Soundwave! The dark energon that has been in my body has been clouding my processors. All I have done was cause grief to him." She looked down at the ground with sorrow showing in her optics.

"But what about Lazerbeak?" Knockout asked, even though that question could easily make her depressed even more.

Like what Knockout predicted, Slipstream's head lowered as she sighed to herself. She took out something metal from behind her back. She held it in front of Knockout as she looked at the broken pieces of metal in her hands. "This is what happened to Lazerbeak." she sighed, turning her head away from the broken mini-con.

Knockout quietly gasped as he looked at Lazerbeak, which looked more like a pile of scrap metal than a robot with a spark. "Soundwave's a genius, Slipstream. I'm sure he can fix Lazerbeak up when this is all over." he assured to her with a confident smile on his face.

"If it is _ever_ over." Slipstream muttered into Knockout's audio sensors. She slowly walked closer to the red Decepticon for a hug. Knockout accepted the hug and spread his arms around her, calming her down a little.

Their little moment of silence was immediately disrupted when the broken wing of Lazerbeak began to weakly flap in one of Slipstream's hands. She quickly pulled herself away from Knockout to look at the mini-con. "It's still functional? But how is that possible?" Slipstream gasped in astonishment.

A coordinates grid popped up on Soundwave's visor. There was a weak blinking dot yards away from where he was standing. Lazerbeak was also at the corner of the grid. _An S.O.S. signal…From Lazerbeak? _Soundwave thought in surprise. The first thought that popped into his head was that Lazerbeak was dead. Then, he began thinking if Lazerbeak somehow survived. If that was true, then the mini-con must be awfully weak because of its energy signature's weakness. He looked to the direction of Lazerbeak's energy signature and stared in curiosity to a group of trees on a small outcrop. He looked back to the Starscream clones and stepped to the very back of the group.

Sunstorm stepped to the front and stared into Unicron's optics with a smirk on his face.

Unicron walked towards him with a scowl on his face. Now that the Chaos Bringer was close to the Starscream clones, he looked much taller than anyone thought he would look like. "Is there something you have to say to me?" he hissed into Sunstorm's audio sensors.

Sunstorm gave Unicron a weak smile. "Well," he replied, "How's your day?"

Unicron rolled his optics and shoved the orange Seeker to the ground. "You all are foolish. I can't believe Primus let you survive!" he growled to the other Starscream clones.

Soundwave managed to sneak off to the place where Lazerbeak's energy signature was. He poked his head from behind a tree to see Slipstream and Knockout hiding in the shadows.

Slipstream immediately looked towards him as she noticed a faint glint from his visor. "S-Soundwave?" she gasped in astonishment. She got up from beside Knockout and scurried to the Spymaster. She rubbed the side of her servo with her hand, "Uh…Hi…"

Soundwave stared at her in silence. Deep inside, he was content to see her once again, but what made him fall back to his angered state was seeing the pile of scrap metal on the ground. He recognized a piece of metal to be one of Lazerbeak's wings. He glowered into Slipstream's optics, his visor darkening in frustration.

Slipstream turned her head to look at the remains of Lazerbeak. "I…I didn't mean to destroy him. I couldn't control myself…" she tried to explain to the Spymaster while her voice was weak.

Knockout quickly stepped in with a smile on his face. "Come on now, Soundwave. Give her a break." he sighed to him, slightly rolling his optics in the process.

Soundwave extended a tentacle towards the red Decepticon, grabbing his neck firmly. He easily lifted Knockout into the air, making the said Decepticon gasp in astonishment.

"Hey! Soundwave, we can all be friends here, right?" Knockout squeaked, widening his worried optics.

Soundwave stared at Knockout with an angered glower. He had several doubts that he would ever be friends with Knockout again; not when the sheer memory of being abandoned by the Decepticons was still floating through his processors. He squeezed the red Decepticon's neck, willing to murder him right on the spot.

Knockout flinched as pain shot through his neck. The words that managed to slip off his glossa sounded vaguely like a plea for help. He tried to pry the tentacle off him, but he wasn't strong enough. He could feel the metal alloy surrounding his neck beginning to obtain a severe dent.

Slipstream grasped Soundwave's servo with fire in her optics. She looked into his visor with a sharp hiss, "Could you learn to forgive bots? I know he kicked you off the Nemesis, but he isn't that bad." Right after she said that, her words were beginning to sound unreasonable.

Soundwave's circuits began to fill with irritation. For almost his entire life, he was with the Decepticons. The only thing that he could remember back when Cybertron was in the Golden Age was that he was a gladiator, which is the reason why he befriended Megatron- or Megatronus back in the day. His life revolved around the Decepticons. Never a solar-cycle would pass with him not thinking of his faction. He tightened his grip, making Knockout squeal in pain.

"Soundwave, stop it!" Slipstream growled loudly. Her voice carried out to a slightly curious Chaos Bringer, grabbing his attention easily.

Unicron turned around to see who was yelling from behind him. He could vaguely see three bots hiding in the shadows. He transformed one of his servos into a handgun and fired at the group of trees, showing absolutely no mercy.

The blast easily destroyed the trees surrounding Slipstream, Knockout, and Soundwave. Everyone but Soundwave gasped in astonishment as they locked optics with Unicron. Soundwave eventually let go of Knockout, who landed on his knees, almost falling over if it wasn't for Slipstream.

Soundwave immediately extended a tentacle to Unicron with precise precision. The tentacle quickly shot through the Chaos Bringer's spark chamber, making the bot crumble to the ground, turning into a pile of rocks. Dust shrouded the area, making everyone protect their face with their servos.

Soundwave reopened his optics, trying to look through the dust. He knew that "fight" with Unicron was too easy. There must've been more to the fight than just jabbing Unicron in the spark chamber; the said bot was much stronger than that. He raised his head, having a difficult time looking around him.

Slipstream blinked her optics open and immediately turned her head to the Spymaster. "Where is Unicron?" she asked with a confused look on her face. She began to walk over to Soundwave's side, but a gigantic boulder suddenly fell between them out of nowhere. "What the frag was that?" she gasped in astonishment.

Knockout looked to Slipstream's direction. "What? Is there something wrong?" he asked with a confused look on his face.

Slipstream looked back at the red Decepticon, biting her lip in the process. "Yes! There is something wrong! There's a fragging boulder right in front of me!" she hissed at him with annoyance emanating from her optics.

Knockout rolled his optics at her. "You must be high on energon again because I don't see any boulder." he growled to the female Seeker.

_It must be an illusion then, _Soundwave thought as he turned to look at the two bots bickering. He remembered when he and Thrust was hearing an ear-piercing screech of metal scraping against metal, even though the other Starscream clones weren't able to hear what they were listening to. Unicron must've been tricking him, Thrust, and Slipstream. He walked towards the female Seeker, trying to tell her that Unicron is just deceiving her processors.

"H-How did you walk through that boulder?" Slipstream asked with an astonished look obviously on her face.

Soundwave was about to attempt some charades, until a crack in the ground opened between him and Slipstream. The boulder that the female Seeker was seeing immediately vanished, showing the crack next to her feet. She looked into it and saw a boiling pool of dark energon. She stepped back, widening her optics in disbelief.

Purple optics suddenly appeared only a yard away from Soundwave. Then, a beam of dark energon light shot from the direction of the purple optics towards Soundwave. The Spymaster quickly turned around, but he wasn't swift enough to get out of the line of fire. His optics widened from behind his visor as he saw the beam of dark energon come closer to him. He could already feel the heat of the energon nearing his face.

"Soundwave!"

A shrill cry shattered the intense air. Someone fell to the ground, and Soundwave quickly opened his optics. Right at his feet was the energon-covered body of Sunstorm. He immediately crouched down to look more closely to the deep gashes in the orange Seeker's metal alloy.

"I live to serve…!" Sunstorm's words were replaced with a high-pitched scream as the dark energon that seeped into his circuitry began to melt him from the inside. His energon boiled and the metal on his face melted off, showing his processors, his optics, and his skull. Soon, those three objects were melted away, as well as his body, starting with his spark chamber. All that was left of Sunstorm was his hollow body. Soundwave reached out to touch the orange Seeker's shoulder, but the metal alloy blown away, as if Sunstorm's shell was made of dust.

Soundwave touched the place where Sunstorm was lying down. He looked down to the ground in sadness, praying that the orange Seeker's sacrifice wasn't in vain. He stood up and turned towards Slipstream and Knockout. He placed a step forward so he could move closer to the female Seeker.

A ring of purple flames suddenly circled around the three bots. The wall of fire began to grow taller and taller, until it looked as if the flames were lapping at the stars above.

Unicron cackled into Soundwave, Slipstream, and Knockout's audio sensors, "Watch destruction at its very best."

A blanket of boulders appeared above the three bots' heads, and plummeted to them with rapid speed. The last thing Soundwave heard was Slipstream's plea for Unicron to spare their lives. Then, he felt boulders smashing against his metal armor and crushing him. He felt his body go numb as he stared into blackness.


	22. Chapter 22

Minutes felt like eons to Soundwave. His body ached from the weight of the boulders on top of him. He survived, but he was left to suffer in darkness. He couldn't hear anything around him. The innocent pleas from Slipstream vanished when they were trapped in a tomb of rocks. The darkness surrounding Soundwave felt taciturn. He couldn't bear the cold stillness; it was like time froze all of a sudden. He began to wonder if everything he had done was worth the pain he was experiencing. He jeopardized the information of the Decepticons he held in his processors when he infiltrated the Autobot base to find Lazerbeak, he tried to return to his faction to only be thrown into a jail cell, and he even risked his spark to find Slipstream.

He unexpectedly felt warmth on his visor. His optics that were used to the darkness looked around frantically for whatever was giving off heat. A glint of light appeared before his optics. The tender feeling of the light made Soundwave silently sigh in relief; never had he been so happy to see light. Wait! Was he traveling to the Well of All Sparks? Several questions wanted to be answered, but no one was around to reply. He slowly managed to reach out a servo towards the glint of light. As his hand reached it, he felt the surface of a rock. His optics widened in astonishment.

_It's a way out, _Soundwave thought. He pushed the rock aside, making more beams of light seep into the dark tomb he was trapped in. After pushing enough rocks aside, he squirmed around, trying to escape the crushing weight of the boulders on him. After a few minutes of struggling under the boulders, he managed to escape the crushing rocks. He bolted for the crevice, being temporarily blinded by the light. He felt even more heat.

As Soundwave's vision gradually returned, he stared at a burning wasteland that stretched out for miles and miles. Walls of fire towered over him, scorching what was left of the deserted area. There was no foliage anywhere to be seen. All that was left were rocks and ash. Fire kept spreading across the land, destroying what was left of the world. Soundwave couldn't believe what he was witnessing. Unicron meant it when he said to watch destruction at its very best. The Chaos Bringer destroyed the planet.

The rocks where he escaped began to move. A familiar female Seeker appeared from the rubble, and quickly walked up to the Spymaster. "I guess Unicron destroyed Earth." she whispered into his audio sensors. She snaked her servos around him, hugging him tightly.

Soundwave gradually hugged her back, staring at her closed optics.

"We can still survive on this burning planet. Who knows, the Decepticons may still be alive." she murmured with a weak smile on her face, "We can have a fresh start on"-

She looked down to see Soundwave stabbing her in the spark chamber. Her energon dripped to the ground, dyeing the scorched ground blue. She panted as she raised her head to look at the Spymaster. Her optics glazed over and her limp body fell to the ground with a soft thud.

Soundwave looked at his servo; it was covered in Slipstream's energon. He closed his optics and walked off, walking through the flames. He passed a group of Vehicon bodies lying on the ground motionless. He looked down in sadness and thought, _All I wanted was Cybertron to return to the Golden Age. Instead, I led the Decepticons, Megatron, the humans, and Earth to their destruction. Unicron wasn't the Chaos Bringer at all; I am. I was the one who made Unicron rise. And Slipstream was willing to suffer for me. I couldn't bear with that at all. It is me who shall suffer the consequences._

Soundwave walked off into a wall of fire, vanishing as if he was just a ghost.

* * *

_**Author Note:**__ Thank you to everyone that took their time to read my story. I deeply appreciate everyone's support. And if you haven't thought of it when you read the last chapter, there's a question that makes the story open-ended, if not opened-ended enough: Was it all just an illusion created by Unicron or was it all still in reality? Think about it._

_I ended my poll and by combining the poll results and an anonymous user's vote, it looks like there is a tie. Well, I called my friend on the phone so he could break the tie. I don't know why, but he picked "Misplaced." So, the said story will be up some time on Saturday, so look out for that!_


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